Steve Bannon CHARGED WITH FRAUD

They never did get Al Capone for racketeering, extortion or murder, but there was always tax fraud to fall back on, when the time came to send him to the slammer. That thought may have occurred to Steve Bannon, who has found himself on a rap sheet issued by the acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Here’s what it says.

“Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the [SD of NY], and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service ('USPIS'), announced the unsealing of an indictment charging BRIAN KOLFAGE, STEPHEN BANNON, ANDREW BADOLATO, and TIMOTHY SHEA for their roles in defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign known as ‘We Build the Wall’ that raised more than $25 million”.

There is more. “The defendants were arrested this morning … BANNON will be presented today in the Southern District of New York … The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York … To conceal the payments to KOLFAGE from We Build the Wall, KOLFAGE, BANNON, BADOLATO, and SHEA devised a scheme to route those payments from We Build the Wall to KOLFAGE indirectly through Non-Profit-1 and a shell company under SHEA’s control, among other avenues”.

This looks bad for Bannon. But it is equally bad for those who were his associates, those who palled up to him. In the UK that means two figures out there on the right, the most obvious being Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, who, as I noted back in 2017, was getting advice from Bannon on his World4Brexit fundraising initiative.

And while Bannon ranted “Fuck you. Don't you fucking say you're calling me out. You fucking liberal elite. Tommy Robinson is the backbone of this country” at Theo Usherwood of LBC, former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan was giving Bannon a noticeably less hard time than his Good Morning Britain co-host Susanna Reid. Who was also denounced as part of the “liberal elite”, but without the swearing.

But the politician who may now have cause for concern is alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. For him, the charge sheet looks grim, starting with Bannon claiming to have been in contact with Bozo, by phone and also text message, the month before the infamous Telegraph column where he described Muslim woman wearing the burqa as looking like “letter boxes” and “bank robbers”.

Then, just after Bozo had his famous domestic with partner Carrie Symonds at her south London flat, the Observer revealed video evidence which showed “Bannon, who helped mastermind Trump’s successful bid for the presidency but was later exiled from the White House, talking about his relationship and contacts with Johnson, and how he helped him craft the first speech after his resignation as foreign secretary”.

So, Piers, Nige and Bozo, how’s that association with Steve Bannon looking, now that he’s been arrested and is all ready to be presented to Judge Analisa Torres? Care to comment on being linked to someone who just got busted for allegations of fraud?

No doubt Bozo won’t even think of resigning. But a few of his supporters might.

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Murdoch Press Demands Dead Teachers

Time moves on: later this month, schools will reopen in England and teachers and pupils will return to the classroom. Given the propensity of younger people to spread the Coronavirus around, unions representing teachers are voicing concern over their members’ safety. For this heinous thought crime, the Murdoch mafiosi at the Super Soaraway Currant Bun have ordered a suitably lame hit job.

An education non-expert airs his views

So it was that the odious flanelled fool Master Harry Cole, now pretending to be political editor of the Sun, went over the top in no style at all to tell anyone not yet asleep “Militant teachers’ union threatens to close schools if local coronavirus cases hit 50 in 100,000”. Wanting people to be safe at work is now Militant, whatever that means.

We can be reasonably sure that Master Cole would have more than a little difficulty defining the term, but he has his orders. Do go on. “The Education Solidarity Network, a left-wing faction in the National Education Union, will hold street protests on Friday across Britain with a list of safety demands such as free PPE and weekly Covid tests for teachers. And it announced tonight it wants to be able to close classrooms if local infection rates hit its chosen level”. How DARE teachers get tested for Covid-19!

The effrontery of these people! What next, free healthcare? There’s more. “More moderate bosses of the biggest teachers unions distanced themselves from the ESN’s cut-off figure … Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling hit out: ‘This hard-left action takes a wrecking ball to our children’s futures’”. Will she be in the classroom? No, thought not.

It did not take long for reality to dawn, and for feedback to show that Master Cole’s latest attempt at real journalism was developing not necessarily to his advantage, with Martin O’Lowery responding “Apparently, wanting to protect the health of teachers and pupils is ‘militant’”. David Head helpfully added “Translation: ‘militant’ = concerned”.

The Tweeter known as Jim Cognito observed “Everyone’s a ‘militant’ if you’re right wing”. Paul Trow concluded “The S*n costs less than a cup of coffee. Don't forget to buy that coffee”. Meanwhile, John Turnbull had a question. “No doubt this article was written in a bustling and busy office... or are ‘militant’ journalists working from home?”

I’m sure Master Cole will be more than happy to answer that one, or maybe not. And Mike Brook had seen enough. “Militant, you mean teachers who would prefer not to die serving this corrupt Government’s agenda. Teachers who would rather not see the kids they teach fall ill or become vectors for illness or death in their families. That kind of militant”.

Even worse for the Sun’s propagandist was a comment from Jeremy Vine, who read Gavin “stupid boy” Williamson’s second priority for education - “to make sure that schools reopen in a way that is safe for your children” - and mused “I’m starting to get a little concerned about the second priority”. Is Jeremy Vine also militant? Questions, questions.

Harry Cole is still not a credible journalist. And the propaganda ain’t making it.

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Migrant Drowning - Hello Priti Patel

Yesterday morning, Marlene Schiappa, France’s Citizenship Minister, told the world that a 16-year-old Sudanese migrant had been found washed up on the beach at Sangatte. He had drowned trying to cross the Channel from France to England in a tiny inflatable boat. His death is the inevitable consequence of so much desperation, so much tough talk, so much passing the buck, and, whisper it quietly, so much blame gaming.

So when Priti Patel, who is claimed to be the Home Secretary, responded to Ms Schiappa by telling “This is an upsetting and tragic loss of a young life. This horrendous incident serves as a brutal reminder of the abhorrent criminal gangs and people smugglers who exploit vulnerable people. Working together we are determined to stop them”, her lack of sincerity and glaring double standards were soon coming back to haunt her.

Worse, today’s Metro and Daily Mail have made the story their front page lead, the Mail telling readers “A young migrant drowned yesterday trying to reach Britain in a 3ft dinghy - tragically highlighting the human cost of the crisis. The victim, who could not swim, had set off from Calais in the middle of the night with a friend. The pair are thought to have accidentally punctured their inflatable craft with the shovels they were using as oars”.

There was more. “The dinghy started to sink and - although his friend somehow survived - the Sudanese migrant was unable to make it safely ashore … The tragedy sparked a major row yesterday over the Government's handling of the crisis, which has seen record numbers cross the Channel in small boats this year. The Bishop of Dover called for 'definitive action' to protect those 'desperate enough to risk their lives' in small boats”.

And more. “'How much worse does this have to get,' said the Rt Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin. 'We cannot let his death pass by unremarked. This appalling tragedy should be a wake-up call to all of us. We cannot stand by any longer while bodies wash up on the shores.’” And it is Ms Patel who has been talking tough, and blame-shifting, for months now.

Also, as keeps being pointed out by those outside the UK, the demand that anyone claiming asylum in the UK must have already arrived in the UK means there will be more attempts to cross the channel, and more deaths. So it was no surprise when Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, who you can tell as she’s a doctor, responded “The ‘exploited vulnerable people’ who you’re deploying Navy warships against? Despicable”.

Fionna O’Leary added “You promote the hardened attitude, the cruelty, the conditions where people take what could be avoidable risks. If you want to tackle the criminals - feel free. But you target those who are suffering and make their journey much more insecure. So spare us the faux pity”. Ms Patel playing to the gallery is what brought us here.

And the problem she has exacerbated can only be solved by her backing down, working with the authorities in France and elsewhere, establishing a safe way for those who want to claim asylum in the UK - and ignoring the rabble-rousing bigots.

Otherwise, Priti Patel fully deserves Cold War Steve’s latest biting caricature. Time to stop grandstanding, and start doing the job of Home Secretary. I’ll just leave that one there.

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Australian Freedom Of Movement ISN’T

With the departure of the UK from the European Union comes an end to freedom of movement, which some ardent Brexiteers are discovering - rather late in the day - not only applies to all those ghastly foreigners coming here, but Brits going there - like to live and work in mainland Europe, or indeed, own property and retire there.

James Paterson

In order to head off what could be a very ugly revolt, cheerleaders for alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson have been floating a rather different form of free movement. But, as so often with the right-wing press, it is not just what they choose to tell their readers, but what they choose to leave out, that is key.

First out of the blocks with this slice of hokum was the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph, telling readers “Australians call for freedom of movement as part of post-Brexit trade deal … Agreement could be stepping stone to 'Canzuk Union' between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and UK”. And it also could not.

The Tel is nowadays heavily paywalled, but the Murdoch Sun has enterprisingly lifted the story (see how that works, Fred and David?) to let us know “BRITAIN and Australia could bring in a freedom of movement deal between the two countries as part of a post-Brexit trade agreement. Australian MPs are calling for ‘generous provisions’ to allow Brits and Australians to freely live and work in both nations”. How many MPs would that be?

Er, just one. “In a report called ‘A Ripper Deal’, Liberal Party Senator James Paterson wrote that the two countries are ‘bound by deep and historical ties’. Mr Paterson said that rules should be relaxed allowing citizens of Australia and Britain free access to each other's nations - in an arrangement which could be a stepping stone for similar deals with Canada and New Zealand”. James Paterson? Is he related to Sir Les?

"The Sydney Opera House. Looks like a drowning nun"

But do go on. “Mr Paterson wrote: ‘This should require minimal regulatory compliance and be simpler to get than the standard work visas in each country.’ He also wrote that a freedom of movement deal could be the first step to a 'Commonwealth' union. ‘In the long term, a free-trade, free-movement block consisting of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK is an attractive idea in a dangerous world,’” So who is James Paterson?

Apart from being appointed to his Senate seat - rather than elected - Paterson has served as deputy executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs. The IPA is roughly equivalent to UK Astroturf lobby groups like the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance. The idea of a “Canzuk Union” is his pet project. The Sun article does not name another Australian politician who has backed Paterson’s idea. But the Murdoch press likes the IPA.

But this is total crap. What the Tel and Sun are dangling before soon-to-be-disgruntled Brexiteers is the prospect of a mainly white and English speaking free movement area - an idea which assumes New Zealand and Canada will back it. Which they may not.

Thus another Ron Hopeful ending for the Brexit faithful is exposed as a sham. One of these days, they’ll discover they’ve been had. That story may not have a happy ending.

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Greta Gets Gammons Going

The Guardian’s environment editor Damian Carrington has a reminder for us today: we may be looking at the Coronavirus pandemic, but climate change is still a thing, still real, and has not gone away. Moreover, two years after her first school strike, activist Greta Thunberg is still there too, reminding us that our inaction is not buying time, but losing it.

Evening all

Ms Thunberg has told “Looking back [over two years], a lot has happened. Many millions have taken to the streets … But over these last two years, the world has also emitted over 80bn tonnes of CO2. We have seen continuous natural disasters taking place across the globe. Many lives and livelihoods have been lost, and this is only the very beginning”. The response to her reminder? The usual - blind, incoherent rage from the usual suspects.

This had already seen Sky News Australia (more Fox News than Sky in the UK) claiming “Greta Thunberg 'losing relevance' in the wake of global pandemic”, a mantra which was enthusiastically taken up by the climate change denialists at the Global Warming Policy Foundation and the equally batshit Climate Realists. Now, it’s getting worse.

Like Austin Williams sneering “Just when you thought that the decimation of industry, global recession & mass unemployment were as bad as it gets, along come environmentalists to close even more things down”. And the one-person tide of human filth that is David Vance laughably claiming “She misses the publicity”.

Some are already trying to drive their own denialist publicity, like the “Friends of Science” (they aren’t) pleading that Ms Thunberg debate Naomi Seibt (a denialist). Right on cue comes a Brexiteer to assert “Saint Greta will never agree to a debate”. Brexit and climate change denial do seem to attract a very similar audience.

Elsewhere, the Gammon is outraged. Like Jon Saxon, frothing “This child knows nothing but to trust blindly what she is told. She couldn't reason her way out of a paper bag … She's an ignorant puppet, used by the cult”. Neil Warden is on the same page. “Climate change is another cash cow. Greta Thunberg is a pawn”. Yeah, right.

Another of the whiners believes “The sock puppet's PR team must be SO p1ssed off we've had REAL problems to worry about recently, in place of their illusory ones”. Then has come the reminder to all of them: “It's so depressingly predictable. Greta Thunberg says something about climate change, papers publish it, then grown men tweet abuse about a 17 year old girl who has achieved more in her teens than most of them have managed with their whole lives”. They also demonstrate their crashing ignorance.

REALITY

Greta Thunberg does not do what anyone else tells her to. That dishonest claim may be part of the climate change denial belief system, but has no basis in fact.

Ms Thunberg is right. Being abusive will not stop her being right. Deal with it.

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Hancock Hails Harding, Head Health Honcho

Before the Coronavirus pandemic brought a temporary halt to most TV punditry, the genre had established one school of thought in the minds of many viewers: that organisations like the EU meant decision making handed to unelected bureaucrats. Such practices, whoever participated in them, were held to be A Very Bad Thing Indeed. Thus the mainly right-wing pundits proclaimed their approval of democracy.

Tally ho!

But it will surprise no-one that those same pundits hold principles of infinite flexibility, and never more so than when alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his dubiously talented cabinet lackeys need to do a little blame-shifting. So it was that Public Health England, a body that reported to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, was abolished in order to cover for its boss’s ineptitude.

As befits a Government whose members know rather less about Parliamentary democracy than they pretend, and care even less, the abolition of PHE was briefed to the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph. Later, it was announced that the successor body, the National Institute for Health Protection, would be headed by Dido Harding, who by the most miraculous of coincidences happens to be a peer. A Tory peer.

Government appointment announcements outsourced here

And as the Guardian has reported, she “has been widely criticised over responsibility for England’s test-and-trace system”. Nonetheless, she is now “the interim chair of the new institute - a merger between PHE and test and trace - and will steer it through its first few months as it seeks to improve the testing and tracing of people who may have coronavirus”. This move has not gone down well outside of the Tory faithful.

Experience? Not as such, as Rachel Clarke noted: “a Tory peer with no public health experience, who presided over the (privately outsourced) Test & Trace debacle”. Ruth McQuillan added “She has no background, expertise or training in public health and no discernible attributes whatsoever for this role, apart from blind loyalty to Johnson and Cummings”. As to the idea of interviewing her for the job, er, well, not actually.

Labour MP Justin Madders was not impressed: “appointed to a body that hasn’t been created yet without an interview and with a track record like that - absolutely no transparency or accountability”. And with the announcement made where? To Parliament, as it should have been? Nope. As Martin McKee confirmed, “A right wing think tank founded by Michael Gove? Of course”. Announced to Policy Exchange.

That’s the same Policy Exchange that claimed cities like Liverpool had failed and so all those living there should move to London. And then came worse news from the London Economic: “The head of the government’s new Institute for Health Protection – which will replace Public Health England – has been found to have direct links to a member of the 1828 advisory board – which called for the body to be scrapped”. Do go on.

“Dido Harding’s husband and former Tory minister John Penrose is part of the right-wing group which, among other things, took a dim view of PHE … the 1828 group has also pushed for the NHS to be scrapped in favour of a system where people pay for insurance either through private firms or a government scheme”. How very Stateside.

At least Hancock appointed the jockey - next time it could be the full Caligula.

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Nigel Farage’s Damaging Doxxing

The leisure and hospitality sector of our economy is suffering rather more than most as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with pubs and restaurants shut, hotels empty away from tourist spots as business travel remains more or less absent, and a lot of people out of work. So when a hotel gets a block booking from a Government department, it is not about to decline it. So it was with one establishment in Essex.

Why the booking was made was straightforward: there was a need to place a group of people seeking asylum in the UK. Then Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage heard about it, discovered that the hotel was in alleged Home Secretary Priti Patel’s Witham constituency, and rocked up in order to score some self-publicity.

That might not have been so bad, except that Mr Thirsty needlessly doxxed the hotel at the outset. So now the assembled gammonati are spreading misinformation about the Rivenhall Hotel, on the A12 between Witham and Kelvedon. Not that Nige cares. He’s got his publicity and embarrassed Ms Patel. Some of the responses are sickening.

“[Priti Patel] Rivenhall Hotel on the A12 in Essex has been filled overnight with somalians - all men” … “thank you PP for housing the immigrants at [Rivenhall Hotel] witham essex . A local was brutally attacked by 6 of them this weekend. Bet that doesn’t get reported does it” … “Oh dear oh dear. I’ve stayed in the Rivenhall Hotel many times. Will not be staying there again!” … “What a disgrace you taking in illegals. Shame on you”. There was more.

“Boycott! [Rivenhall Hotel]” … “RIVENHALL HOTEL.. Witham Essex TEL 01376 516969” [yeah, ring them up and be abusive, dead brave that is] … “Go and leave the RivenHall Hotel a lovely review” … “Just added [Rivenhall Hotel] to our page of migrant foothold hotels” [that last from one of many white supremacist Twitter feeds]. And more.

“I have tried all dates this year and including the New Year -at The Rivenhall hotel. No vacancies!!! Keep up the good work, Nigel. Thanks good guy” … “Home secretary declares that the illegal immigrant crisis Britain is facing is shameful! She is to send in the navy, but will it be used to taxi more in? Rivenhall hotel in her own constituency of Witham is booked up for the entire year with illegals!” And yet more.

Including Rupert Lowe, who despite his political affiliation, might be expected to be sensible enough to stop and think. “I've been a staunch defender of Priti Patel in the past, so it really pains me to say this. What is she playing at? Putting up these illegal migrants in fancy hotels and trying to keep it hidden from us. Totally unacceptable. Tory members and voters must be appalled”. Room for one last slice of misinformation?

You got it. “Due to public uproar, the illegals staying at Rivenhall hotel are being moved to an RAF base in Norfolk”. But nobody is “illegal” if they have applied for asylum in the UK and their application is being considered. They are, though, fair game for rabble rousing politicians with their own chauffeurs and nothing productive to do.

How many more businesses would Mr Thirsty like to force into eventual closure in order to score a little more media attention? Patriotism - truly the last refuge of the scoundrel.

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