:A former campaign staffer and the grandson-in-law of US Senator Rand Paul who received a presidential pardon from former President Donald Trump has been charged with directing Russian money into the 2016 presidential election, according to the US Department of Justice.”
August 3, 2017:
“It was also unrelated, no doubt, to the fact that Len Blavatnik, a Ukrainian American whose firm owns 22.5 percent of Rusal, contributed $3.5 million to the McConnell-affiliated Senate Leadership Fund between 2015 and 2017, making McConnell his top recipient. Blavatnik — whose partner in the Rusal investment, Putin-allied oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, has also been hit by U.S. sanctions — gave millions more to other Republicans and to Trump’s inauguration. (Another Rusal owner, Russian state-owned VTB Bank, is also under U.S. sanctions.) “
This video might make you mad:
(Some dirty words – Samantha Bee)
Mixture
About this rating
What’s True
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signaled during a 19 December 2016 television interview that he doesn’t believe it is necessary to set up a special committee to investigate reported Russian hacks during the 2016 election.What’s False
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mitch-mcconnell-blocked-investigating-russian-hacks/
Making the comments during an interview are not the same as formally blocking the panel; McConnell also said he believes existing congressional intelligence committees, which are bipartisan, are capable of carrying out the investigation.
He blocked a bipartisan statement on Russian hacking before the election, but now belatedly joins senators asking for a probe.
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-craven-power-politics-of-mitch-mcconnell/
This week, Rusal and Braidy said their respective boards of directors had approved the deal, which is slated to close by June 30, according to a joint news release. The Russian company also has said it intends to supply aluminum for Braidy’s mill from a smelter that’s under construction in Siberia.
From Friday: Court rules Bevin must give Braidy investors’ names to Courier Journal
The U.S. previously placed sanctions on Rusal, as well as co-owner Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch. The sanctions on Rusal as well as En+ Group, its parent company, were lifted earlier this year.
Kentucky’s senators, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul, joined other Republicans in voting down a measure in January that opposed ending those sanctions.Now, eight congressional Democrats have expressed concern about Rusal’s investment in Braidy’s planned mill — citing the fact that parent company En+ is “substantially owned by individuals and entities with close ties to the Russian government” — in a letter they sent Thursday to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a copy of which the New York Times included in its report on their request.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/money/companies/2019/05/17/kentucky-braidy-industry-congress-democrats-want-review-russian-investment/3704124002/
James Madison and our Founding Fathers envisioned a nation governed by a Representative Government
1.1 Delegate vs. Trustee
Historically, the theoretical literature on political representation has focused on whether representatives should act as delegates or as trustees. Representatives who are delegates simply follow the expressed preferences of their constituents.James Madison (1787–8) describes representative government as “the delegation of the government…to a small number of citizens elected by the rest.” Madison recognized that “Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.” Consequently, Madison suggests having a diverse and large population as a way to decrease the problems with bad representation.
In other words, the preferences of the represented can partially safeguard against the problems of faction.
In contrast, trustees are representatives who follow their own understanding of the best action to pursue. Edmund Burke (1790) is famous for arguing that Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests, which interest each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but Parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole… You choose a member, indeed; but when you have chosen him he is not a member of Bristol, but he is a member of Parliament (115).
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/political-representation/#KeyComPolRep
In an Oligarchy, There is NO Representation, Delegate OR Trustee
When does @realDonaldTrump attack @senatemajldr over Kentucky’s poverty @GOPChairwoman ? @gop ?
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2 Mississippi 81.46
3 Kentucky 78.76
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