The American Resistance has many faces - this is one of them (2)

Image found at Twitter

There would be a particularly nervous class of Australian investors right now - perhaps even Mr. Harbourside Mansion himself

The Guardian, 11 February 2017:

The founders of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal, were arrested in Panama City on Thursday as the country’s attorney general launched a probe into their alleged connections with Brazil’s sprawling Lava Jato corruption scandal.

Juergen Mossack and his colleague Ramon Fonseca, a former adviser to Panama’s president Juan Carlos Varela, were taken into custody and transferred to police cells in the capital overnight for further questioning on Friday, their defence attorney Elías Solano was quoted telling reporters.

Panamanian prosecutors raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca on Thursday. In a press conference on Kenia Porcell, Panama’s attorney general, said she had information that identified Mossack Fonseca “allegedly as a criminal organisation that is dedicated to hiding money assets from suspicious origins”. 

She said the firm’s Brazilian representative had allegedly been instructed to conceal documents and to remove evidence of illegal activities related to the Lava Jato case.

“Put simply, the money comes from bribes, circulated via certain corporate entities to return bleached or washed to Panama,” said Porcell. She explained charges had been formulated against four individuals, including the Mossack Fonseca partners. 

Porcell thanked the authorities in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Switzerland and the United States for their part in a collaboration which she said began over a year ago.

The Panama Papers, which consist of millions of documents belonging to Mossack Fonseca and leaked in April 2016, provoked a global scandal after showing how the rich and powerful used offshore corporations to avoid paying taxes.

Australian Financial Review, 14 June 2016:

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's merchant bank Turnbull & Partners received an estimated $3 million in 1995 and 1996 from the sales of shares held through offshore companies administered by notorious Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Turnbull & Partners received up to $7 million from share sales and advisory fees from Mr Turnbull's time as a director of a listed mining company, Star Mining, which had an interest in a Siberian gold deposit.

Documents obtained by The Australian Financial Review, which first revealed Mr Turnbull's link to a Mossack Fonseca company last month, show heavy selling of Star Mining shares by offshore companies in 1995 after a series of favourable decisions by Russian politicians and bureaucrats boosted the Star Mining share price.

One of the key figures who helped obtain Star's Siberian  mining leases, Ludmila Melnikoff, accuses Star director Ian MacNee, who died in 2008, of paying bribes of more than $US2 million to secure these decisions.

Dear Australia,.......Love, America

Two Washington residents have come to the Australian Embassy in DC - complete with homemade signs - to apologise for President Trump. pic.twitter.com/q8ydKWWbz8

— Stephanie March (@steph_march) February 3, 2017

The Age shared some letters it received after 28 January 2017:

Please share with the good people of Australia our deepest and sincerest apologies for the behaviour of the man who now occupies the White House. ("Donald Trump will 'respect' deal made with Prime Minister 'Trunbull'", February 3)
As an American citizen, who has spent a lifetime in government service, who has lived through the administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and beyond, I can tell you that we have never had such an oaf in office before.  I am so sorry.  To PM Turnbull, please accept our apologies.
Please, never forget, He does NOT represent the views and attitudes of the American people.  He is a minority president who lost the popular vote by approximately three million votes.  He barely won the electoral college by 42,000 votes in states where over 400,000 voters were purged from the rolls and were not permitted to vote. It will get worse before it gets better ... brace yourselves, we're all in this together.
Robert Mikol, Fairbanks, Alaska

Dear Australia,
I am so very sorry that we have elected such a boor and ignoramus as our president, and that he has chosen to insult such a good friend as you have been to us.  As you probably know, most of us did not vote for this so-called person, but through bad luck and electoral peculiarities we are stuck with him. I just want all of you to know that we love and appreciate Australia, and that we are horrified and embarrassed at his daily hissy-fits. You, of all people, should never have been at the receiving end of one of his tantrums. Please bear with us and accept our heartfelt apologies.
Love America.
Kyle Riggs, Ashland, Oregon 

Come now, can anyone be surprised by anything that Donald (Tweety) Trump says and does? Weren't you watching and listening to his performance during the campaigns and election for the presidency?  It's P.T. Barnum Goes to Washington. Malcolm Turnbull should not feel too upset that his call to the White House ended abruptly.  Anything that runs beyond 140 characters stretches beyond Tweety's attention span.
Bill O'Reilly, Hastings on Hudson, New York

I would like to apologise to the people of Australia and their Prime Minister for any offence given by our current President. This apology for the words and actions of a defective human being, are for both current events and for all future episodes of intellectual and civilised lapses.
Robert Pike, Fremont,California

On behalf of the 70 million voters in America who did NOT vote for Donald Trump, please accept our sincerest apologies for his behaviour. Americans, regardless of political stripe, admire, respect and love your country. Aussies rock!!
Dean Starr, Libertyville, Illinois

I woke up this morning, and read a brief account of Trump's phone conversation with your Prime Minister this week.  I was and am in shock.  I apologise (even though I know I really don't have to for myself) for what happened.  I have never been so embarrassed and so ashamed to be an American.  And I am crying deep tears of sorrow and anger.
Know that there are millions of Americans marching and protesting and writing letters in defiance of this president and this new administration, and we hope beyond hope that their tenure will be short, and the world can regain some of it's sanity.
I'm sorry.
Jack Leishman, Ashland, Oregon

I wanted add my apology to the Australian people for the embarrassing actions by our new president. Australia collectively is one of our closest and cherished friends and it pains me that Trump's treatment of your government, country and people is behaviour beyond belief. Keep the faith as we fight here toward minimising Trump's damage or removing him completely from office.
Bruce Barnes, Atlanta, Georgia

I've been lucky to travel extensively through Australia, enjoy its people, its beauty, and its culture. In the process, I made some very dear friends. The childish, reactionary, petulant behaviour of Trumplethinskin does not represent who or what most Americans are. His unhinged rants and tweets are a product of a seriously diseased mind. To put it in simple terms, terms which even he may comprehend - WE APOLOGISE!
Robert Kezelis, Palos Heights Illinois

Dear People of Australia and Prime Minister Turnbull,
I apologise for the boorish behavior of Mr. Trump. I have no idea how we raised him so poorly.
Steven Miles, Minneapolis, Minnesota

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