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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsKim Dotcom: The absolutely bizarre man Sean Hannity claims is his Seth Rich bombshell evidence.
This is Kim Dotcom's former house:
This is Kim Dotcom's former wife:
And *this* (drumroll, please)....is Kim Dotcom:
No. Really. That's Kim Dotcom.
Actually, it's not. It's actually Kim Schmitz, who was born in Germany in 1974. So just in case you were wondering, "Dotcom" was not actually his birth name.
Until yesterday and Sean Hannity going full Alex Jones on the Seth Rich story, I had never heard of Kim Dotcom. I still wish that I hadn't. But I'm a little surprised that I hadn't, because old Kimmy appears to have made quite a name for himself over the years.
Kim fashions himself something of a computer hacking whiz, dating all the way back to the wee days of the internet in the 1990s, hacking into entities like NASA, the Pentagon, and PBX. He was arrested and jailed in Germany for trafficking in stolen credit cards.
He then made himself a fortune on a not-yet bankrupt dotcom company right before it went bust, in what amounted to insider trading. Hence, that's how he gave himself his new last name.
He fled to Thailand, faked his death, but was arrested again by German authorities on embezzlement charges, to which he pleaded guilty and received a two year suspended sentence.
He then left for Hong Kong where he set up a bunch of shell companies claiming they were an AI driven hedge fund. After the Hong Kong authorities got hip to him, he then left for New Zealand.
Getting New Zealand to waive its "good character" residency requirements, he settled into his new country and started throwing his money around at politicians and various other entities, as well as amassing the aforementioned mansion, and a fleet of exotic sports cars and helicopters.
He also set up an illegal file sharing company called Megaupload in 2003. This of course raised the ire of the FBI for copyright infringement of various US films and music. In 2012, he was indicted by the United States, and a raid was conducted on his mansion and his assets were frozen. However, he fought off extradition to the US in the New Zealand courts claiming the FBI overstepped its authority in the raid, and he remains in New Zealand to date despite the outstanding charges. Recently, New Zealand courts have ruled he is eligible for extradition but the process has been held up in appeals.
Meanwhile, his extracurricular activities include at one point being the number one rated Call of Duty video game player in the world. And releasing his own EDM DJ music album. And if you thought EDM DJs were obnoxious and shallow and vapid, well.....Kim pretty much confirms that fact. Here's one of his videos, and as you can see, he's a humble, low key kind of guy:
It sort of makes you yearn for the simple, older days of Chuggo.
He also attempted to start his own political party in New Zealand called "the Internet Party". It participated in New Zealand's elections and won zero seats in parliament, on account that unlike in the United States, shady funny looking rich guys with trophy wives and a background wrought with financial fraud are written off as jokes and not to be taken seriously.
Anywho, throughout all of this, somehow Kim became the go-to guy of Sean Hannity regarding Seth Rich. How did this happen, and what rock solid evidence formed the basis for the claims that a low level DNC staffer was snuffed out by Hillary Clinton and the corrupt DNC?
Well, in May of 2017, Kim ran to old man Hannity and told him he had unequivocal proof that Seth Rich was murdered for the sins of Hillary and the Democratic Party. And this proof was......(another drum roll, please)....that in 2014, someone named "Panda" contacted him and asked him about starting his own "Internet Party" for the US. And Panda was an expert in voter analytic tools. And of course "Panda" was undoubtedly Seth Rich because apparently one time Seth Rich dressed up as a panda at an office costume party. And somehow, something Wikileaks and Julian Assange and boom, Hillary Clinton goes all Frank Underwood on Seth Rich.
I'm not making any of that up. I promise you. I'm not.
And Kim said he'd be happy to share this email correspondence with newly appointed Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, so long as he's guaranteed "safe passage" both to and from the US without threat of arrest on his pending criminal charges. I've been assured Mueller's office is taking this proposition with all the seriousness it deserves.
That anyone could possibly think a guy with the name of Kim Dotcom, let alone his actual reputation and persona, could be in any way, shape or form a reliable source of information is laughable beyond belief. But this is Sean Hannity, so it makes absolute sense that he'd be the only person dumb enough to take this bait.
And you can see the appeal of Kim Dotcom to the folks on the alt-right. Frankly, he's far more of a believable patron saint and champion for their cause than Milo Yiannoppolis. He's essentially their wish fulfillment embodied in lumpy, sweaty flesh: he's the epitome of everything you'd expect of a computer hacking nerd, but instead of the proverbial basement dwelling, he's living in a mansion with sick cars and a supermodel (ex)wife who's sticking it to the establishment with his wizardry, all while dropping sick beats and kicking ass at Call of Duty. He's basically the Jordan "Wolf of Wall Street" Belfort for the alt-right neckbeard crowd.
I mean, what else would explain the love from the alt-right's favorite not-a-parody-although-he-should-be cartoonist, Ben Garrison:
So that's the guy. That's the guy who we can only hope will bring down the righteous hammer of karma upon Sean Hannity. Because only someone as utterly stupid and completely incapable of complex thought would choose to take someone named "Kim Dotcom" at his word.
Oh, and also....this is Kim Dotcom's current girlfriend:
Let me introduce you to the Good Life.
kimbutgar
(20,882 posts)Ugh, I couldn't get past that face!
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)kimbutgar
(20,882 posts)It probably is even more repulsive.
underpants
(182,279 posts)Good info
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)It's no great surprise that a dude once worth $200 million or whatever could pull attractive women...
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,085 posts)I don't think it was his sparkling personality that attracted them to him, either.
I debated on whether or not to include those facts as relevant, but I ultimately included that to draw a certain parallel to a certain other ostentatious rich guy with a background full of fraudulent dealings who certainly wouldn't have attracted his Slovenian supermodel wife if he was just some random dude selling insurance.
It just seems to be a sign of the times that this crap rises to the top.
Bengus81
(6,907 posts)Here honey,another BUCKET of KFC!!!! No...your weight looks fine,don't let others tell you it's not! Baby...where is our life insurance policys??
erpowers
(9,350 posts)Sean Hannity knows the story that Seth Rich was murdered by Hillary Clinton and the DNC is total BS. Hannity knows full well that Kim Dotcom is unreliable. He is pushing this story because he knows his audience is foolish and will believe whatever he tells them.
spontaneousspectator
(1 post)"....that in 2014, someone named "Panda" contacted him and asked him about starting his own "Internet Party" for the US. And Panda was an expert in voter analytic tools. And of course "Panda" was undoubtedly Seth Rich because apparently one time Seth Rich dressed up as a panda at an office costume party. And somehow, something Wikileaks and Julian Assange and boom, Hillary Clinton goes all Frank Underwood on Seth Rich."
I don't think the Panda thing is relevant at all, which is funny why they continue to press it, certainly Kim Dotcom had to have known Seth's affinity for Pandas, it wasn't a secret that it was Seth's nickname.
Pic of Seth's family with his Panda stuffed animal
Seth Rich Pandas4Progress Instagram account (now deleted)
[link:http://archive.li/g5Ffo|
More from the Instagram account
[link:http://archive.li/wsYmo|
Andrew Therriault (Former Director of Data Science for DNC) Tweeting @pandas4progress (looks like tweet was deleted within the last day)
[link:http://imgur.com/fWqlz2e|
The conspiracy theorists clearly need to pivot to something more believable, like the Queen being a lizard person....