Corruption, 'Deep Politics', etc.

[wg-]

Nancy trading again today, she's doing well

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[version]

One to make your blood boil,

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The complex accounting trick started in March 2017 when a shell company, with no money or assets, called Severn Trent Trimpley was set up as part of the group. Another Severn Trent company called Severn Trent Draycote - which owns the water company - agreed to buy Trimpley for £2.​

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Trimpley then issued additional shares and Draycote bought them for a staggering £3bn.​

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No money actually changed hands, however, as Draycote paid Trimpley with a £3bn loan note - effectively an IOU. But, on paper, Trimpley immediately appeared to be worth £3bn because it had the IOU.​

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Severn Trent Water then acquired 49% of Trimpley - and that investment was valued in the water company's accounts at £1.47bn. A hugely valuable asset appears to have been created for Severn Trent Water out of thin air.​

Major water company uses accounting trick to inflate balance sheet by £1.68bn

A substantial Severn Trent Water investment is based on IOU notes - BBC Panorama finds.

www.bbc.co.uk

The fucking water companies again...

The water firm Anglian Water passed thousands of pollution tests at its sewage plants that were never carried out.​

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Operational data reveals how more than 6,000 pollution tests from 2015 to 2024 could not be carried out under a controversial self-monitoring regime because it was reported there was no outflow of treated sewage from the plants.​

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In some cases the flows from the sewage plants stopped for just an hour or two, meaning samples could not be taken. But despite no test being carried out, the sewage plants could be reported under the guidelines as complying with environmental permits.​

 

[version]

Where is the CIA? Where are the deep state? Have they thrown their lot in with Trump? Are they laying low? Were they always incompetent?

 

[Mr. Tea]

Where is the CIA? Where are the deep state? Have they thrown their lot in with Trump? Are they laying low? Were they always incompetent?

I think all those sorts of bodies, the military included, are just having their top brass replaced by yes-men and MAGA loyalists.

The new head of CIA (since January) is this guy, for instance:

John Ratcliffe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ratcliffe has staunchly supported Trump's criticism of the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, in particular the origins of the investigation, contending "it does appear that there were crimes committed during the Obama administration."[120] Ratcliffe has stated that he has "seen no evidence" that Russian interference in the 2016 election helped get Trump elected.[121] He has described court-approved surveillance of the Trump campaign as spying.[121] He has claimed without evidence that the Russia probe may have been tainted by a criminal conspiracy.[122]

Days before he was announced as Trump's choice to be Director of National Intelligence, Ratcliffe drew headlines for his questioning of Robert Mueller during Mueller's congressional testimony.[123] Ratcliffe criticized Mueller for describing instances of obstruction of justice in his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.[124] Ratcliffe claimed that Mueller went beyond the rules for special counsels, by covering instances of potential obstruction when the report did not charge any crimes. The Associated Press and PolitiFact found Ratcliffe's claim false, noting that special prosecutors are required by federal regulations to explain decisions not to prosecute.[124][125] Neal Katyal, who wrote the special counsel regulations in 1999, called Ratcliffe "dead wrong."[126]

Ratcliffe also falsely claimed that the Steele dossier, which he described as a "fake, phony dossier", was the trigger that started the Trump-Russia probe.[127] The House Republican intelligence committee's own memo about the Russia probe had said that it was information about George Papadopoulos that set off an investigation by the FBI in July 2016.[127] Ratcliffe also asserted that Democrats "accused Donald Trump of a crime and then tried to reverse engineer a process to justify that accusation."[60] Trump was reportedly impressed by Ratcliffe's aggressive questioning of Mueller, which some sources described as Ratcliffe's "audition" to be named DNI.[123]

Shortly before Trump announced he would be nominated as DNI, Ratcliffe asserted the Obama administration had committed a felony by leaking classified transcripts of 2016 phone calls between Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak to The Washington Post.[128] The gist of the conversations were conveyed to Post reporters, but not the transcripts themselves.[129][130] He also asserted, "The Mueller report and its conclusions weren’t from Robert Mueller. They were written by what a lot of people believe was Hillary Clinton’s de facto legal team, people that had supported her, even represented some of her aides."[49] Three days after becoming DNI in May 2020, Ratcliffe declassified and released the full transcripts, which may have made it more difficult for prosecutors to assert the earlier reporting that the gist of the calls had harmed national security.[131][132]

Ratcliffe said that he had seen a text message between FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that referenced a "secret society," adding, "We learned today about information that in the immediate aftermath of his election, there may have been a 'secret society' of folks within the Department of Justice and the FBI, to include Page and Strzok, working against [Trump]." His assertion briefly went viral on pro-Trump media, and the next day Republican senator Ron Johnson claimed that Republican investigators had learned from an "informant" of meetings of a "secret society." The text message did contain the expression "secret society," but it was soon learned to be a joke related to Strzok's purchase of "beefcake" calendars of Vladimir Putin for distribution to FBI employees who had worked on the Russian investigation.[133][134]

The bit at the end is quite good.

 

[version]

My point is why are they allowing themselves to be replaced, or why did they allow it to get to the point they could be.

 

[luka]

Intriguing eh

 

[Mr. Tea]

My point is why are they allowing themselves to be replaced, or why did they allow it to get to the point they could be.

Most people are not as brave or as principled as they like to think they are.

 

[version]

Some people thought Crooks may have been nudged along when he took the shot at Trump. Notice we still know fuck all about him whereas we know Luigi's entire life story.

 

[version]

I think the most likely explanation re: the CIA vs. Trump is that people overestimate their abilities based on a few standout events and a lot of conjecture. I imagine the majority of them are dull bureaucratic types who aren't looking to rock the boat and, if they're not sympathetic to him, probably aren't capable of doing anything about Trump anyway.

 

[Clinamenic]

I think the most likely explanation re: the CIA vs. Trump is that people overestimate their abilities based on a few standout events and a lot of conjecture. I imagine the majority of them are dull bureaucratic types who aren't looking to rock the boat and, if they're not sympathetic to him, probably aren't capable of doing anything about Trump anyway.

Yeah I share this suspicion too

 

[version]

How much of a threat to them would he really be anyway? They can probably do whatever they want as long they don't get in his way. He's unlikely to rein them in, take issue with their methods or anything like that. The only friction will be if any of them are particularly ideological and see him as a threat to the republic or refuse to cool on Russia.

 

[catalog]

Don't knos what you are talking about but I believe you

 

[Clinamenic]

 

[version]

Been reading a bit about Bukele, the Salvadoran president Trump's been buddying up to. He's popular at home due to being the one to finally rein in the gangs, but apparently he's been making deals with them behind the scenes whilst accusing political opponents of doing the same.

A former official alleged the ruling party was involved in corruption, drug trafficking and working with the gangs then ended up being arrested and mysteriously dying in custody.

EXCLUSIVE Salvadoran ex-prosecutor says government quashed probe into pact with gangs (Reuters)

El Salvador ex-security adviser who accused ruling party of corruption dies in custody (Reuters)

 

[pattycakes_]

I find him very fucking suspicious. It's crazy what he did, basically making El Salvador safe for the first time in years. So many Salvadorans love him because of that, and fair fucks there, but there's just something about him. And now he's pals with Donald? Fuckin well sus

 

[version]

I find him very fucking suspicious. It's crazy what he did, basically making El Salvador safe for the first time in years. So many Salvadorans love him because of that, and fair fucks there, but there's just something about him. And now he's pals with Donald? Fuckin well sus

Yeah, seems like people over there are between a rock and a hard place. The gangs are horrendous and maybe he was alright at one point, but the power's obviously going to his head.

It's not exactly much in the way of evidence, but there was a properly grim thing posted the other day where someone was claiming the aerial view from one of his prisons looked like the yard was filled with slaughterhouse runoff...

 

[pattycakes_]

 

[pattycakes_]

Yeah, seems like people over there are between a rock and a hard place. The gangs are horrendous and maybe he was alright at one point, but the power's obviously going to his head. It's not exactly much in the way of evidence, but there was a properly grim thing posted the other day where someone was claiming the aerial view from one of his prisons looked like the yard was filled with slaughterhouse runoff...

I was just about to say surely that would get out somehow but then I just read "Prisoners are not allowed education, recreation, visitation, or phone calls" so maybe not.

 

[version]

This was chilling. The Americans cheering this on seem completely oblivious to the fact once this stuff's in place it could happen to them or someone they care about too. The shortsightedness on their part's almost as alarming as the callousness and sadism.

I was just about to say surely that would get out somehow but then I just read "Prisoners are not allowed education, recreation, visitation, or phone calls" so maybe not.

Some people think one of the blokes they've mistakenly deported's already dead or tortured and that's why they're being so stubborn about him.

Kilmar Ábrego García: Who is the man deported from Maryland to El Salvador?

Officials in the US and El Salvador have been unwilling to return the man home, sparking a legal battle.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[luka]

Stan says its all ok nothing to worry about