TODAY: Tailgate Party With Marty In One Hour!

Retired IRS criminal investigator Martin Sheil joins Bette’s Happy Hour, Tuesday, noon Pacific, as we partake in a weenie roast/debate prep on how money drives politics and how info is laundered

***Registration for paid members is below the paywall. This event is today, Tuesday, September 10, noon Pacific — an hour from now. To join our Speakeasy and Happy Hour events, please take out a membership.***

Party with Marty! Photo Courtesy Dylan Sheil

Tailgate Party With Marty!

Our favorite ex-fed Martin Sheil is going to help us with debate prep and fine-tune our awareness on his area of expertise: following the money.

Those who’ve been with me from the beginning have spent many an hour getting educated by our brilliant friend Marty, who spent decades busting guys with names like Fat Larry by following the money.

Here’s a preview of some expected talking points.

Marty’s Money Matters!

H.

Getting ready for the Prosecutor v the Felon debate and — while putting the final touches on my tailgate preparations — I wanted to share some thoughts that have crossed my mind in the past moments and, forgive me, but most of them seem financially flavored so use your own mental condiments to process.

I know the polls reflect a very tight race, and that is fine. I perceive Kamala to have experienced more success to date in fundraising than her opponent, but that comes with a warning - LEGITIMATE fundraising.

Having more money to spend on your campaign is a real advantage, not only for Kamala, but for all the down ballot candidates. Congress is up for the taking by Democrats and Democracy!

Should Trump prevail by hook or crook in the Presidential election, it is my great hope that the Dems will solidify their current hold on the Senate and retake the House from the Maganauts. Such a result will truly handcuff the wannabe Dictator from legislating his fascist Project 2025 objectives and that is no small win.

One reason Citizen Trump is behind in campaign funding is the enormous amount of monies he is directing to his legal team to delay, delay, delay and fend off any legal actions including a pending Sentencing Hearing for his conviction on Falsifying Business records disguising his Hush Money payoffs to Stormy.

It has recently come to light that Trump has publicly denigrated the work of his legal team, but Trump's malice towards his lawyers are really a projection of his self hate and also his overall tightwadness.

Pinching pennies from his campaign to payoff his lawyers may result in Trump losing Congress, but there will be small solace in that defeat.

Ms. Harris must keep on keeping on with regard to fundraising because we know what a desperate grifter like Trump will do should he find himself short on funds. He will sell his soul — like he allegedly did — with the Egyptian Caper by transacting with his favorite Dictator - the Sisi from pyramid land.

Remember this is a guy who monetized the White House just four years ago and will likely go whole hog given another chance at the Federal trough, particularly in light of the terribly flawed SCOTUS opinion providing Presidential immunity to all official Presidential acts...

Oh my!

Money drives politics. 

We can generalize this truism to every country no matter the political system. The Soviet Union imploded not because of their political ideology, but because their economic system did not work.

So too will the NovoRussia imperial economy implode in the not too distant future. Putin is directing the vast majority of his Petro dollars and Rubles to support the Russian military industrial complex and the economy is overheating. Gazprom, which is an empire within an empire, has lost money bigly in the last several quarters, and they are the financial machine that Putin is counting on to finance his imperial ambitions that start with Ukraine, but certainly don't end there. 

But economic limits are starting to confront Putin.

Chinese banks are pulling back from processing Russian import/export transactions in Yuan given their concerns about American sanctions closing their banks for past transgressions.

Interest rates have risen to 18% and likely will go higher. Investment —particularly foreign investment in needed domestic infrastructure — is down, way down. Sanctions are biting. Spare parts for aircraft and helicopters cannot be easily obtained resulting in disasters.

More importantly, oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska have publicly exhibited their concerns about an overheated economy and the negative consequences to be expected if the war-time economy doesn't change. Watch this closely. If Deripaska doesn't fall out of a fifth floor window or down a long stairway in the near future then Putin will be in serious trouble. (Heidi Note: I will celebrate the day Elite Defection arrives.)

But in the meantime, Putin will continue to launder his Information just like Trump used to launder money, and I am struck by the similitude.

Classic money laundering involves concealing or disguising the origin or source of the ill-gotten gains and in turn, taking action to seemingly legitimize illicit funds. Using shell companies and innocuous bag man to move bogus money are classic earmarks of money laundering and there is no limit to the actions involved in further layering and concealing further movement of bad money.

So, too, does Information laundering involve concealing the origins and source of bogus information. Information for instance emanating from the Kremlin can be moved as we have seen through Information Influencers such as right wing MAGA media talking heads - for a price of course. Information which has as its purpose to divide factions and spread hatred by appealing to hidden prejudices and bias conveyed by influential folks with large followings have taken root in the U.S. and have been here since, at the very least, the 2016 campaign, and the biggest Information launderers are the Russians.

The recent DOJ indictment with regard to the Doppelganger crew that used cyber squatting and phony websites in addition to paid off right-wing media influencers shows the sophistication that false information can be disseminated throughout our land during an election, and that is just scary.

The main culprit was a Russian apparatchik by the name Sergei Kiriyenko who was a senior aide to Putin, and known as the Viceroy of the Donbas -  and was/is a powerful figure within the Kremlin. His power grew over time and with the success he displayed not only with the U.S. but with multiple Western country elections. Kiriyeno is touted by some Russian experts as a possible successor to Putin and that, too, is scary. While Kiriyenko is intimidating, we should not lose sight of the fact that his son Vladimir is also in a position of power should there be a reshuffling in the Kremlin.

Vladimir used to be a honcho is Russia's main Military Industrial corporation called Rostelcom. More concerning is the fact that Vladimir is now the CEO of the main Russian internet social platform VK.

Putin is using his Petro dollars to finance hybrid warfare against the West including subsidizing information warfare against America as recent indictments depict. We all need to be on our guard against further Information laundering from the Kremlin. While the media has its challenges here please remember Marty reminded you to follow the money.

Check out the ICIJ database for the Kiriyenkos …

Should you click on any of the entities reflected in the graphics you will quickly note the use of the British Virgin Islands as an offshore intermediary for the Kiriyenkos to stash and move their money in a concealed fashion through their shell companies.

Sound familiar?

Money influences politics and it does so through conveying INFORMATION.

Money movement must be transparent.

So too must INFORMATION.

Information influences elections.

So here is my transparent INFORMATION influence attempt.

Vote for the Prosecutor not the Felon!

Vote Democratic up and down the ticket!

See you at the tailgate!

Your truly,

Marty Sheil

I’ll bring the hot dogs, vegan and otherwise!

Keep scrolling for registration link… see you in the squares in an hour.

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