Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Latest Commentary:
Ukraine Pays Cohen for Access to Trump -- The BBC is reporting that the Ukrainian government of President Petro Poroshenko paid Michael Cohen, one of the president's lawyers, at least $400,000 to arrange talks with Mr. Trump in the White House. The US media are ignoring the story. Mr. Cohen is not a registered lobbyist, and so, if there were a payment made for such a purpose, it would be a criminal act to accept the funds. Mr. Cohen denies the allegations. Mr. Trump may not have known about the payments. However, this is just another example of how low the Trump administration's hangers-on will stoop. And it might explain why Ukraine has stopped cooperating in the investigation into Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. [May 24]
Business Partner of President's Lawyer Pleads Guilty on Tax Charges -- For years, Evgeny "Gene" Friedman was the business partner of Michael Cohen, one of the president's lawyers. Mr. Friedman and Mr. Cohen owned taxi medallions, which allowed them to operate yellow cabs in New York City, a highly valuable license. Thanks to Uber, Lyft and others, the value of such a medallion fell from $1.3 million in 2014 to less than $200,000 today. In trying to stay solvent, Mr. Friedman neglected to pay more than $5 million in taxes. Yesterday, he took a guilty plea on not paying $50,000 and will serve five years' probation. He won't be going to jail for years because he has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. The pressure on Mr. Cohen has increased dramatically. [May 23]
FBI Informant in Trump Campaign Protected America -- The Trump administration has its knickers in a twist over its own allegations that the FBI planted a spy in the presidential campaign to subvert the effort to get a failed casino owner into the White House. The facts, of course, are quite different. There was at least one spy in the campaign, and the informant was a patriotic American who saw something and said something. If anything, the FBI was doing its job, and had it been working on the destruction of its campaign, the agency would have acted much differently. [May 22]
US Puts China Trade War "On Hold" -- The American government announced yesterday that the trade war with China has been put on hold. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the two had discussed the various issues involved over the week-end and sufficient progress had been made to justify a change in attitude. "We came away with a very comprehensive framework agreement that needs to be implemented, but has lots of different aspects," he told CNBC just a few minutes ago. When asked if it was a glass half-full or half-empty situation, he said unhelpfully, "It's completely half-full." Those unwilling to parse such drivel will see that China took the Trump administration to the cleaners. [May 21],
May to Create More Peers to Swing Lords' Brexit Votes -- The House of Lords doesn't have quite as much power in 2018 as it did in 1818, but it can still throw a spanner in the works of a prime minister. Their Lordships have defeated the government 15 times on the EU withdrawal bill, including on issues such as a customs union with the EU, the Irish border and removing March 29, 2019, as the official Brexit date from the bill. So as early as today, Prime Minister May will advise Her Majesty to create 10 Tory peers, one from the Democratic Unionist Party (which is keeping the Tories in power on a supply and confidence basis), and Labour will get 3. The pro-EU Liberal Democrats will not add to their 98 peers. She is packing the Lords, and it's unconscionable. [May 18]
© Copyright 2018 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
Volume XVI, Number 95
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