Source: Reuters

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee have asked the Trump Organization if it was aware of allegations that real estate agents and investors involved in the Trump Ocean Club in Panama had ties to money laundering and drug trafficking.

Democratic Representatives Norma Torres and Eliot Engel sent the letter, seen by Reuters, to the Trump Organization’s general counsel, Alan Garten, on Wednesday evening. They asked what due diligence was done on investors and agents involved in the project, which earned President Donald Trump between $30 million and $50 million for lending his name to it, according to court records.
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“Given widely reported allegations of money laundering and drug trafficking in connection with Trump Ocean Club Panama, we believe it is imperative to understand the Trump Organization’s knowledge of and role in sales at this property,” the representatives wrote.

They asked if the Trump Organization at any time became aware that “any agents or investors involved in Trump Ocean Club were involved in money laundering or illegal narcotics trafficking,” and, if so, had they reported it to U.S. or Panamanian authorities and terminated business arrangements with any suspected individuals.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-panama/u-s-lawmakers-question-trump-ties-to-panama-project-idUSKCN1GD5B4

The Professional Let Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal, Feb. 23 2018.

Student Activism is back. And Manafort is going down. Also, Bible Bitch and Sandy Hook Promise. More at http://www.ProLeftPod.com.

...of their own tricks.

Conservative activists like Richard Viguerie pioneered direct mailing for political fund-raising and action in the 1970s, using early forms of data mining to identify which people would respond to which hot-button issues. Punching their hot buttons made them more likely to cough up some cash and to single-issue vote, which helped find ways to break up the Democratic Party's New Deal coalition.

Going back farther and continuing into the 90s or later were political newsletters (such as Ron Paul's) where conservatives could get "the real deal ignored by the liberal media."

Also far back and continuing thru today is conservative radio. Rush may have been given free reign by Reagan's ending the fairness doctrine, but before him people like Bob Grant got a widespread audience (including far outside his broadcast area). And you can't leave out shortwave stations and, even more, the hundreds of AM stations across the country owned by religious broadcasters. They had a lot of leeway in what they covered as long as it had a religious hook, and they blanketed much of the country long before companies like Clear Channel could buy up stations to get similar geographical coverage.

These all gave their readers/listeners a sense that they were getting the straight dope, from people brave enough to come out and say it, not just conform like "the sheeple." They, and their favored sources, were the ones who were right.

Moving into the late 80s and 90s, add USENET groups, dial-up BBSs, and early online forums. My recollection is that these skewed strongly to conservative or libertarian views until the late 90s, when liberal forums started catching up. This is also when RWers started their habit of aggressively taking over any political talk on nonpartisan forums, not through compelling argument but through the now-familiar habit of disregarding sources outside their own favored places, dismissing it as "liberal propaganda." Other people got tired of arguing with a brick wall and, being less obsessive about it, stopped bothering. And there was belligerent trolling, of course.

Let's also not leave out e-mail forwarding networks, through which they could circulate articles and posts without having any pushback. Quite a few of those were also frauds (e.g., taking the transcript of Sen Al Gore questioning Ollie North, North talking about Abu Nidal, and the circulated transcript edited to replace Abu Nidal with Osama bin Laden in order to make it look like North warned about Bin Laden years in advance but "stupid, traitorous Democrats" ignored the threat).

There's a reason why Russian bots are indistinguishable from RW foamers. It's what they were patterned after. Why re-invent the wheel when it's already there. Just install a second set of controls.

Trump did not come out of nowhere. He did not spring ex nihilo like Athena from the forehead of Zeus. The road that he's drag-racing on took years to pave.

The following are a list of requirements that you must have been before you can claim to be a NeverTrumper:

For at least a quarter century:
NeverNewt
NeverRush
NeverFOX
NeverNatRev
NeverNRA
NeverChristianCoalition
NeverFederalistSociety
NeverKoch
NeverMiscRichLooneyFundingPetIdeologicalProject
Bonus add-on: NeverJoeScar

For the past 18 years:
NeverRove
NeverBushBS
NeverCheney
NeverSean
NeverBillO
Never911ScareTactics
NeverIraqBS
NeverIraqOccupationFailure
NeverBushTaxCut (double that one after Iraq war launched. war+tax cuts /= fiscal responsibility)

(I am admittedly missing a whole passel of things that belong here -- JHB)

For the past 10 years:
NeverTea
NeverGlenn
NeverSarah
NeverPriority1TermPrez
NeverDebtCeilingGames
NeverStolenSCseat

(More missing stuff)

Failure to check ANY of these boxes means you are NOT "NeverTrump". You were fine with all the stuff that lead to him. Your only real problem is that you don't like his style.