Update no.1049

 Update from the Sunland

No.1049

14.2.22 – 20.2.22

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

            To all,

 

            The follow-up news items:

-- The legal vice closing in on [the person who shall no longer be named] continues to ratchet inward. The latest example is a letter released by the New York State Attorney General. The accounting firm Mazars USA, LLP [903, 957], declared it can no longer stand behind 10 years’ worth of tax returns and financial statements for the ------- Organization. In the letter dated 9.February.2022, and publicly released on Monday, 14.February.2022, Mazars USA, LLP, General Counsel William J. Kelly informed Alan Garten, Esq., Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, The ------- Organization. The letter stated:

We write to advise that the Statements of Financial Condition for Donald J. Trump for the years ending June 30, 2011 - June 30, 2020, should no longer be relied upon and you should inform any recipients thereof who are currently relying upon one or more of those documents that those documents should not be relied upon.

We have come to this conclusion based, in part, upon the filings made by the New York Attorney General on January 18, 2022, our own investigation, and information received from internal and external sources. While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate. [emphasis mine]

Of course, as we have become all too accustomed in our suffering, [the person who shall no longer be named] ordered The ------- Organization to issue a rebuttal statement. Until the closing of this week’s Update, I tried to find a copy of the four-page statement without success. Multiple national Press sources reported that The ------- Organization response stated in part:

While we are disappointed that Mazars has chosen to part ways, their February 9, 2022 letter confirms that after conducting a subsequent review of all prior statements of financial condition, Mazars’ work was performed in accordance with all applicable accounting standards and principles and that such statements of financial condition do not contain any material discrepancies. This confirmation effectively renders the investigations by the DA and AG moot.

Clearly, The ------- Organization does not understand or appreciate the English language, but then again, that reality is nothing new. The Mazars letter explicitly states, “our advice to you [The ------- Organization] to no longer rely upon those financial statements.” Not only is The ------- Organization response factually incorrect, they ignore the facts, which is their right to do. Nonetheless, the court and jury will decide the truth.

Before I could publish this week’s Update, yet another ratcheting closed of the legal vice in which [the person who shall no longer be named] has placed himself occurred.

-- [The person who shall no longer be named] [705], Junior, and Ivana Marie ‘Ivanka’ ------- (AKA Yael Kushner) sought to quash subpoenas issued by the New York State Office of Attorney General (OAG) in the ongoing state civil case regarding their tax records. Justice Arthur F. Engoron of the Supreme Court, New York County rendered judgment in the case of New York v. ------- [NYSC Index No. 451685/2020 (2022)] and ordered all three of them to sit for depositions with the state attorney general. In presenting his reasoning, Justice Engoron noted the Mazars letter and specifically The ------- Organization response noted above. In doing so, Engoron wrote, “To proclaim that the Mazars' red-flag warning that the Trump financial statements are unreliable suddenly renders the OAG's longstanding investigation moot is as audacious as it is preposterous.” Further, Engoron ordered all three of them to comply within 21 days. You live by the sword; you die by the sword. We shall see.

Although we have not yet seen the hard substantiation, the accumulating evidence made public so far is painting a clarifying image that explains why [the person who shall no longer be named] fought so hard to keep his tax returns from public scrutiny.

Unfortunately, to those who have swallowed his bogus snake-oil, they do not care. He is the messiah. In their eyes and thoughts, he is incapable of making a mistake, malfeasance, and criminal conduct. Fortunately, the Court does not care about any of that nonsense. Judgment will eventually be decided.

Just an FYI, I note that Eric ------- and The ------- Organization CFO Allen Howard Weisselberg were not on the Respondents list. Hmmm? Could it be they have turned state’s evidence? And, the OAG civil case first is genius in that the defendants do not hold the same protections they do in a criminal case and should give the prosecutors an opportunity to flush out the whole rotten lot. Things may get interesting in court about the same time that the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol [1020] publishes at least its preliminary, if not final, report.

-- Another related FYI: Allen Weisselberg [705] is due to go on trial in late August to early September of this year. When the vice tightens on the right hand, the rest of the body will squeal.

 

The case of 15-year-old Russian figure skater phenom Kamila Valieva is mutating from disgusting to vile. She tested positive for a banned substance, and yet she was allowed to compete. She was a member of the team competing for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). With Valieva’s skilled performance, they won first place (the United States was second and Japan third). When the positive test last December came to light, the medal ceremony was indefinitely suspended. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) by their caution are punishing not just the offender (Valieva) but all the athletes who would have stood on the podium, and arguably all Olympic athletes. Now, the Russians claim it was a mix-up with the medications prescribed for Valieva’s grandfather. And, they expect us to believe that. The incompetence of the IOC is de facto emasculating the substance abuse rules in place for everyone, but the Russians are proving they are apparently incapable of complying with the international rules. Russia has been on probation since it was banned from international competition after the 2014 Sochi Olympics. They are on probation! And they still got caught. The Russians are winning literally and figuratively.

During my tenure as chancellor of the Prescott Campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), I heard many excuses for positive drug tests that terminated an aeronautical student’s enrollment. None of those excuses included “a mix-up with my grandfather’s medication.” The university policy was zero tolerance. Positive was positive, period. The same criterion should apply to Valieva and other violators of the sport substance policy.

Tell you what, let us just drop all the substance abuse nonsense. Let us just open it up—anything goes. Human beings who wish to be burned up in a matter of years just to hold a gold medal should be allowed to kill themselves as they choose. No wait, since we are going that far, let us just build robots to compete in these sport events. After all, human beings are just too frail and temperamental, and we love our sports.

The IOCs decision to allow her to compete in the follow-on short program was wrong in every possible way. The IOC rules, like the rules at ERAU, were internal stipulations, not local laws. Due process does not apply. So, I guess, all an athlete has to do is claim my grandfather did it.

 

A frequent contributor to this humble forum sent along the following article:

“Nation’s First Supervised Drug-Injection Sites Open in New York – During the first official day in operation at the two Manhattan facilities, trained staff reversed two overdoses, officials said.”

by Jeffery C. Mays and Andy Newman

New York Times

Published: Nov. 30, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/nyregion/supervised-injection-sites-nyc.html

During the ensuing exchange, it was mentioned that the U.S. Justice Department was evaluating similar programs, to which an additional article was added:

“Justice Dept. signals it may allow safe injection sites – So-called safe injection sites are safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics with protections against fatal overdoses.”

by: Jennifer Peltz and Michael Balsamo

Associated Press

Published: 5:09 PM EST February 7, 2022; Updated: 5:17 PM EST February 7, 2022

https://www.10tv.com/article/news/nation-world/justice-dept-may-allow-safe-injection-sites/507-791dcc31-dc63-4a83-bfb4-aa55e4d57f3d?fbclid=IwAR1kDcIVlIOkRY3aHzb4PzsMVluSmspul-l78O6_D4caP72u0-t0_1rAvjY

The two New York City safe injections sites are in East Harlem and Washington Heights. The sites offered basic medical treatment to prevent overdoses, treatment options, diversion encouragement, and controversially, consumption rooms where clean needles and associated supplies are provided. A similar program in Philadelphia was challenged in court, validated by the district court, and rejected by the 3^rd Circuit Court of Appeals—United States v. Safehouse [3CCA No. 20-1422 (2021)]. Safehouse (Philadelphia) uses the notion of a “consumption room” to offer a safe means of consumption to prevent or reduce overdoses, reduce disease, and enable rehabilitation. The Safehouse ruling seemed odd to me in conjunction with the reports that the Justice Department was evaluating safe injection sites. Then, the date said it all (Filed: January 12, 2021). The whole case hinges upon the judicial interpretation of the existing law—21 U.S.C. §856. The government’s challenge began under the previous administration. The 2-1 majority in Safehouse noted, “[M]any Americans think that federal drug laws should move away from law enforcement toward harm reduction. But courts are not arbiters of policy. We must apply the laws as written. If the laws are unwise, Safehouse and its supporters can lobby Congress to carve out an exception. Because we cannot do that, we will reverse and remand.” Illuminating the ludicrousness of the Safehouse ruling, Circuit Judge Jane Richards Roth in her dissenting opinion noted, “Thus, the government concedes that Safehouse could provide a Consumption Room in a mobile van parked outside its facility.”

I understand the judicial reasoning in Safehouse. I agree with the court’s interpretation—the law is the law regardless of how bad the law is. However, thinking beyond Safehouse, the ruling is quite representative of the base fallacy of U.S. drug policy. And yet, it is odd logic and reasoning, federal law lists both opiods and marijuana as Schedule I substances under the CSA, i.e., they “have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.”  Today, we know that rationale is patently false; but, the law is the law. This brings us to the old saying widely attributed to Henry Ford goes, “If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.” So, we continue to butt our heads against the reinforced concrete wall and expect to open a door.

 

Amidst the relentless fBICP effort to suppress and control the vote, we bear witness here in Arizona to their despicable efforts to return us to an era 70 plus years ago and erode democracy itself.

“Arizona Rep. Jake Hoffman asked Mike Pence not to count the state's 2020 electoral votes, according to recently released records – The day before rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Jake Hoffman asked Vice President Mike Pence to not accept the state’s official electoral votes.”

by Richard Ruelas

Arizona Republic

Published: 4:31 p.m. MT Feb. 16, 2022 | Updated 5:56 p.m. MT Feb. 16, 2022

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2022/02/16/rep-jake-hoffman-asked-pence-not-accept-arizona-electoral-votes/6820511001/

and

“GOP election temper tantrum drags on, this time with a plan to split Maricopa County – Opinion: The GOP-controlled Arizona Legislature continues its retribution tour, moving one step closer to dividing Maricopa County into four pieces and dividing you from the money in your wallet.”

by Laurie Roberts

Arizona Republic

Published 2:05 p.m. MT Feb. 16, 2022 | Updated 9:00 a.m. MT Feb. 17, 2022

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2022/02/16/splitting-maricopa-county-payback-planning-hoffman-bill/6818034001/?utm_source=azcentral-Opinions%20News%20Now&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=baseline&utm_term=hero&utm_content=1531AR-E-NLETTER39

Both articles give us a decent glimpse into the malfeasance of the fBICP with respect to their extraordinary efforts to implement Jim Crow v2.0 before this fall’s election. The fBICP dominated Arizona legislature has taken steps toward splitting up Maricopa County carving off three new counties—Mogollon, O’odham, and Hohokam in addition to a significantly diminished Maricopa County. Anyone want to guess why? Does anyone want to guess who introduced the bill? Hint: state representative noted above.

 

While we watch [the person who shall no longer be named] and his fBICP corrode, dismember, and burn down this once grand republic, Vladimir Putin has apparently decided to press his intimidation and hegemony in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. I found this Der Spiegel article on the specific issue.

“NATO's Eastward Expansion – Is Vladimir Putin Right? – Vladimir Putin insists that the West cheated Russia by expanding NATO eastward following the end of the Cold War. Is there anything to his claims? The short answer: It's complicated.”

by Klaus Wiegrefe

Der Spiegel

Published: 15.02.2022, 11.13 Uhr

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nato-s-eastward-expansion-is-vladimir-putin-right-a-bf318d2c-7aeb-4b59-8d5f-1d8c94e1964d?sara_ecid=nl_upd_1jtzCCtmxpVo9GAZr2b4X8GquyeAc9&nlid=bfjpqhxz

As World War II approached its inevitable conclusion, Stalin, Churchill (Attlee) and Roosevelt (Truman) met several times to decide the post-war “peace.” They drew the lines, the borders of the European nations. As the intentions and conduct of Stalin and the Soviet Union became clear, the Western Allies formed and established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO; 4.4.1949) to counter the Soviet moves to set in place buffer states that became known as the Warsaw Pact (Eastern Europe)—a passel of vassal states. Warsaw Pact (Eastern Europe) began to dissolve with the signing of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (AKA Two Plus Four Agreement; signed in Moscow by France, USSR, UK & U.S.) and the withdrawal of East Germany (German Democratic Republic) in advance of reunification. The Pact officially disbanded (1.7.1991) with the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1990-1991). Those countries gained their freedom from Russian domination. The Western Allies tried mightily to enable democratic free choice in the post-war reconstruction, but Stalin’s Soviet Union refused and only recognized its interests and perception of security. As reflected by Wiegrefe, assurances were made to the Russians by the Western Allies during the treaty negotiations. Yet, what the treaty did not acknowledge was the free choice of the affected sovereign states. To my knowledge, NATO did not solicit or seek membership for the newly freed Eastern European states. They sought membership since there has been historic no-love-lost between those countries and Russia. To be clear, many people in neighboring states joined the Germans against the Russians, so much so that the Germans formed a Waffen-SS division—14 Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS [Galizische Nr. 1]. Ukraine wants the same protections against Russian domination that Poland and Romania enjoy. NATO has not shown any eagerness to admit Ukraine to the alliance, but they have not rejected the potential either. Ukraine has a fundamental right to choose its path, its associations, and its alliances. Putin rejects the notion. He apparently sees Ukraine in the same context as the Soviet Union. To me, what Putin is doing in Ukraine is no different from what Hitler did in Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia) in 1938. The region within a sovereign nation had a majority of ethnic Germans. Without the Czechs participating, Chamberlain (UK) and Daladier (France) agreed to Hitler’s demands under threat of military force to carve off the Sudetenland and gave it to Germany in desperate attempt to feed the beast. We know how that worked out. Not only is Putin doing the exact same thing, he is using virtually identical techniques—propaganda, deception, disinformation, false flag provocations, mobilized and positioned military combat units, et cetera. We failed to act in 2014, and Russia still holds sovereign Ukrainian territory—Crimea and Donbass. None of us wants war, including Putin. However, the difference between Putin and the rest of us is he wants a subjugated Ukraine, i.e., not a NATO member state. At this moment, we face two fundamental questions: 1.) Is Ukraine a sovereign state (not a vassal region of Russia), and 2.) Is Ukraine entitled to free choice? We cannot and must not be intimidated by Russia’s nuclear weapons inventory. That said, President Biden has not mobilized the United States for war. But, then again, war is not his choice. That choice belongs to Vladimir Putin entirely. If the Russian president chooses war, we must stand for freedom and free choice. President Biden is gambling that war can be averted.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.1048:

Comment to the Blog:

“The spectacle of the Senate Minority Leader not representing his party bodes ill for said party. Senator McConnell might have been avoiding legal liability for something with his remarks, but King Baby has never reached that level of sophistication.

“I guess the whole voting rights issue will have to be fought again. I suggest that it will go better if we first address Citizens United and other money-in-politics issues.

“The broad term for what happened in the Boeing 737MAX issue is regulatory capture. Back to money in politics.”

My response to the Blog:

Oh my, I sure hope you are correct in that assessment. The fBICP has irreparably comprised whatever integrity they once possessed. We have candidates for all levels of Arizona state government that make blatant, overt references to [the person who shall no longer be named] and the BIG LIE. One, a candidate for U.S. Senate, actually says “Let’s Go Brandon” in his campaign adds. It is revolting and nauseating, but these are the times in which we live. Worse, the fBICP believers are running for secretary of state in many states including Arizona, which would put them much closer to actual electoral malfeasance. You are spot on correct; [the person who shall no longer be named] has always been exactly what he seems—a snake-oil salesman con man. He has not tried to hide what he is. And millions of citizens still believe in him.

As a related side note, the accounting firm for the ------- Organization, Mazars, has publicly terminated its association saying that its financial statements on behalf of the ------- Organization could not be relied upon. As a footnote, I suspect Mazars has finally realized reality with the swirl of legal (criminal) investigations around the Organization and the man.

Yes, agreed, again. After reading recent rulings by the new Supremes, I have no confidence the Court will correct the grievous wrong of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission [558 U.S. 310 (2010)] [424], which in turn means the only way to remedy the Court’s mistake is a constitutional amendment. We bear witness to the fragility of common law. We thought the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) [PL 89-110, 79 Stat. 437] finally ended Jim Crow discrimination and abuse. Unfortunately, SCOTUS began to dismantle the VRA with Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder [570 U.S. 529 (2013)] [607], and with its recent terse statement in Merrill v. Milligan [595 U. S. ____ (2022)] [1048], they have signaled they are likely to negate section 2 of the VRA, which will essentially negate the whole law. To me, the new Supremes have de facto endorsed Jim Crow v2.0. This is going to be a very long fight that I am not likely to see the conclusion.

I am not so sure about the money in politics linkage to the abysmal Boeing conduct in the B737MAX debacle. I suppose money in politics is the root of everything. Those of us who worked in aviation (and especially aviation engineering) saw this disaster begin with the gestation of the cost over all other criteria in the 1980s. We all felt the effects, so I can imagine the inordinate and gargantuan pressure those B737MAX engineers had to be under. It was cost-cutting gone wild, and very few leaders were willing to stand up to that tidal wave. Money is essential to designing and building things. The key is balance between all the design factors of which cost is one important element. Boeing got grossly out of balance; they are paying a terrible price, and Forkner is likely to go to prison (the first of many I expect).

 

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)