Wednesday, April 18, 2018

The man who threatened Stormy. Plus: Mikey and the mob


This image appeared on this twitter thread a day before Stormy Daniels released the sketch of the man who threatened her.  The image above depicts an unidentified man (left) standing with Keith Schiller (right), Trump's bodyguard.

To refresh your memory, here's the sketch:


By no means would I say: "It's a match." The hair is certainly different. On the other hand, there have been instances in which a police sketch bore far less resemblance to the person later identified as the perpetrator. The Son of Sam case offers a classic example.

One problem is that good-looking guys tend to look more-or-less alike.

All in all, I hope someone identifies the silver-haired gentleman. Incidentally, it has been pointed out that the sketch somewhat resembles Stormy's ex.

Trump, in his usual vulgar fashion, went out of his way to proclaim that the man in the sketch doesn't exist.
“A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!”
Before Trump went into his usual tough-guy "hard sell" routine, I was more open to the argument that Stormy was engaging in hyperbole. Now, I'm persuaded that the man in the sketch is real. Why does Trump act in this self-defeating fashion? Any previous president would have left the denials to a press secretary, and only in response to a direct question from a journalist.

Cohen: Here's the most important article about Michael Cohen anyone has yet published. It appears that Cohen's links to the Russian underworld may predate The Donald's.
Cohen has for decades had close personal and professional relationships with many citizens of the former Soviet Union.
Cohen continued to use Estrin’s address on legal filings as late as 1999, but he added several new addresses during this period, including 22-05 43rd Avenue, in Long Island City, Queens — the taxi garage. It was the headquarters of the New York branch of the empire of Simon Garber, a Soviet emigre who also has had cab companies in Chicago and Moscow. Charismatic and silver-haired, Garber released kitschy TV-style advertisements, in Russian, for his company.

Over the years, Garber has been convicted of assault in New York, arrested for battery in Miami, and pleaded guilty in New Jersey to charges of criminal mischief involving him breaking into three neighbors’ homes, shattering glass doors, smearing blood all over, and taking a shower. In Chicago, his taxi fleet included wrecked vehicles with illegally laundered titles.
Also see what Josh Marshall has to say.
So Michael Cohen’s uncle Morton Levine’s social club was the headquarters of Russian organized crime in the U.S.

That’s quite something.
According to Levine, who is apparently still alive, all his nieces and nephews owned shares of the El Caribe and still do. Levine told the AP that Michael Cohen owned his stake in the club until Donald Trump was elected President when he “gave up his stake.”

That was probably wise!

It was also very recent.
As for the Sean Hannity link: It seems fair to speculate that Hannity used Cohen's services for the same reason Broidy and Trump did. Hannity is a wealthy man; if he truly had need of real estate advice, he would have hired the services of a specialist. I've quite enjoyed Hannity's attempts to claim that he was never a Cohen client while at the same time insisting that their conversations were covered by attorney/client privilege. Apparently, Michael Cohen is the Schrodinger's cat of Shysterville.

By the way: I'm out of the hospital following heart attack number two, a cute little myocardial infarctionette which was resolved by a new stent.

Yet another artery has a 100 percent blockage. Fortunately, the body -- of its own accord -- created a collateral route around this impediment; unfortunately, I don't think that this alternative path allows for the same amount of blood flow. It's a bit like driving a big rig truck down a small alleyway. Exercise may help, if it does not kill: The literature (which I've been studying) seems a tad contradictory.

As the semi-divine Gustav Mahler wrote in a program note: Freund Hein spielt auf! The second movement of the Fourth symphony says all that need be said of the merry dance with Azrael: He that hath an ear, let him hear.

17 comments:

Mr Mike said...

Read elsewhere the guy what threatened Stormy Daniels might be Trump's head of security with the central casting last name Calamari.

Unknown said...

Since when has Tom Brady moonlighted as an enforcer?

Anonymous said...

Take care of yourself, Joseph. We need you up and attum.

Peg

Susan said...

Stormy's sketch looks a lot like a young Richard Chamberlain, https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1e/30/66/1e3066b7a058fc94baa1196cf011dcf7--richard-chamberlain-doctor.jpg

JL said...

What Peg said. Thinking of you in good health.

felix said...

Is it Matthew Calamari Jr?

margie said...

Hey Joe, good to read your words again.
Hang tough till the last day. None of us know the date, but I for one, don't like reminders and notices.
You stay in my thoughts and my positive karma energy of "people I wish would live a lot longer".
You are my favorite crancky pessimist!
M

margie said...

Hey Joe, good to read your words again.
Hang tough till the last day. None of us know the date, but I for one, don't like reminders and notices.
You stay in my thoughts and my positive karma energy of "people I wish would live a lot longer".
You are my favorite crancky pessimist!
M

Anonymous said...

Sending power to your stents! Please take care!

Livia Plurabelle said...

Best wishes Joe for a full recovery.

Philip Ebersole said...

Good luck and good health!

Anonymous said...

Please take truly fine care of yourself, and have others do the same. WIshing you a swift, uneventful recovery.

In the meanwhile, here's a good image match for the sketch:

https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/jon-bon-jovi?sort=mostpopular&mediatype=photography&phrase=jon%20bon%20jovi

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you back, Joe. Sending blessings for a speedy recovery and rehab. You have definitely been through it!

As for the on-going news? It staggers the imagination but the overall picture is beginning to take shape. It ain't pretty because the basic sense of the Trumpster as the conman/grifter is taking shape and form. The picture is as ugly as we thought which makes the Trumpster's enablers ever more treacherous. This goes wa-a-ay beyond weasel status; these people are criminals and traitors who sold their own souls and have attempted to sell the country to the highest bidder, primarily an international criminal enterprise.

Btw, did you catch the vid of Barbara Res relating a story of Trump asking one of his security goons: Would you kill for me?

Who asks a question like that? An arrogant criminal, that's who. Btw, the security guy? His answer was 'yes.'

Take care of yourself, Joe.

Peggysue

Caro said...

Please take care of yourself, Joseph!

Kathleen said...

Take good care of yourself, Joe. I hope this procedure provides some relief.

b said...

I hope you're doing OK, Joe. That's far more important than anything anyone types here.

But if you're up to reading it, here's Carole Cadwalladr's latest piece on Arron Banks. He once told her "I wouldn't be so lippy in Russia". And Leave.EU published a spoof video showing her getting beaten up to the tune of the Russian national anthem.

Anonymous said...

Joseph, hoping this respite is only temporary and that you are holding up.

Meanwhile, your readers will endeavor to blog on.

What's stirring in the Mississippi mud? There are new findings surfacing that Arron Banks funded data research at Ole Miss designed to throw the BREXIT vote. Q. Did Ole Miss interfere with UK election processes? It poses an unsettling question: did a U.S. agricultural university interfere in UK elections -- and not just Russia?

Ole Miss is an "Ag" school, which means it's one of the nation's chartered agricultural universities, like UConn and the UofA. What other research universities might be hard up for cash? Did Banks' money support data equipment and research grants eventually used by BREXITeers or the Trump campaign?

Gov Bryant seems to be knee deep in Big Muddy -- anything to fund that Red State football! Go, "Big Data Dolphins", whoops, I meant to say "Ole Miss Rebels". Banks heads Eldon Insurance. Now, I that recall that credit bureau Equifax and Aetna were both hack, hack, hacked...sorry, I'm feeling a little under the weather, I'm wondering how easily missing data could be re-interpreted using algorithms for risk and other factors by a company used to handling that kind of data?

https://mississippitoday.org/2018/04/19/gov-bryant-linked-ole-miss-with-scrutinized-british-data-firm/

http://magnoliastatelive.com/brexit-bankroller-arron-banks-launched-data-firm-oxford-mississippi/

We miss your voice, Joseph. May I recommend Kiss of the Spider Woman for anyone experiencing fatigue? It seems a propos.
dataflo