Steph

Steph

@stephinformed.bsky.social

I'm a retired large bank corporate lender. Married for 50+ yrs, proud of our two daughters. Very concerned about Americans who do not read or fact check. Trump gets away with lies because many Americans are willfully uninformed. Please be one that reads.

328 followers292 following2K posts

Steph reposted

www.forbes.com/sites/danale.... Trump used conservation easements on his golf courses to claim massive charitable deductions w/keeping full bus ownership & operational control, according to an investigation by Forbes. Donated "developmental" rights using high appraisals instead of land ownership

forbes.comHow Trump Turned His Golf Empire Into A Billion-Dollar Tax ShelterFor decades, the president has claimed charitable deductions on golf courses he never gave away. Now he’s pushing the scheme further—and apparently using the presidency to get away with it.

Trump stupidly believes that Putin will honor business deals.Putin's principal goal is the destruction of the U.S. To that end, Putin got compromising info on Trump, helped elect him & weaken/destroy the U.S. from within. Putin will dump Trump like rotten garbage after he's outlived his usefulness.

Internat'l polls report significantly declining global trust in the U.S.& its leadership, with a 36-country Pew Research Center survey finding a median of only 23% confidence in Donald Trump. Across 36 nations polled, 76% of adults express no confidence in Trump's handling of world affairs.

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/u.... "Mr. Obama assailed Mr. Ramaswamy over the ad, saying there appeared to be “no line” Mr. Ramaswamy would not cross. “There’s a decency that we should expect out of our public officials,” the former president said."Personally, I know how the decency ended: w/ Trump😡

nytimes.comObama Issues Searing Attacks on Trump, Ramaswamy in Midterms Rally Speech (Gift Article)The 44th president sharply criticized Mr. Trump, who hit back later in the day. Mr. Obama also assailed Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio.

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/c.... "W/in sight of a southeast Texas middle school stands a chemical plant that President Trump excused from new federal rules intended to curb its cancer-causing pollution."Same for a PA. steel-making facility has spewed carcinogenic chemicals near homes for years.

nytimes.comHow Trump Gave the Worst Polluters a Free Pass (Gift Article)The president temporarily waived clean-air rules for industrial facilities that spew cancer-causing gases. Then his appointees worked to gut the regulations altogether.

Cont'd "And on the outskirts of Richmond, Va., the owners of an industrial warehouse emailed the Trump administration asking for their own waiver. Their wish was granted. Nine months later, the facility accidentally released a large plume of carcinogenic gas into the community. TRUMP DOES NOT CARE!😡

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u.... The true source of at least some of Polar LNG’s money was Novatek, a Russian energy giant under partial U.S. sanctions. It's not only unlawful, but it’s not in the U.S. interest to have Russian tech controlling the commercialization of Arctic gas in the North Slope."

nytimes.comIn U.S. Gas Talks With Kremlin, Hidden Financing for Alaska Project Emerges (Gift Article)Interviews and documents show a Russian energy giant secretly funded a U.S. firm. The deal has been discussed in talks to end the war in Ukraine.

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u.... "The move, described on the condition of anonymity because it has yet to be publicly announced, would escalate a bipartisan confrontation over Trump's increasingly conciliatory approach toward Russia." It would potentially play out after the mid terms.

nytimes.comLawmakers Plan to Block Trump Nominees Over Ukraine Satellite Network Restrictions (Gift Article)Senators have warned the White House they will withhold confirmation votes until the administration ensures the restoration of communications capabilities used by Ukraine’s military.

Trump/DOJ are blatantly trying to cheat.The Alaska Supreme Court rejected Republican efforts to remove a second candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan from the 2026 U.S. Senate ballot, leaving the state court challenge closed while a new federal lawsuit by the Trump adm. continues.

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/22/t.... Voters aren't just voting for candidates, they are voting to elect judges that align with one's values: the rule of law for EVERYONE equally, no oligarchy, no corruption, equal opportunity for all, free speech, freedom of the press, preservation of our democracy!

nytimes.comHow a Legal Backlash Against Big Tech Is Forcing Big Changes (Gift Article)A series of lawsuits has created a new de facto regulatory regime as courts order companies like Meta and Google to change their business practices — and pay up.

'In particular, Justice Kagan pointed to the Court’s polarizing decision this April in Louisiana v. Callais, which demolished provisions of the landmark Voting Rights Act and made it easier for states to gerrymander and undermine the voting power of minorities.'

wapo.st/3Wi3Av9 In her compendium book, " The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump", the first book I read in order to understand why Trump lied constantly,violated laws & sought retribution, psychiatrist, Dr. Bandy Lee said that Trump would get worse over time. This is happening right before our eyes.

wapo.stOpinion | The cascading absurdities of a downward-spiraling presidencyLaw-shredding, tariff-levying, money-dangling Trump tries to drum up Republican midterm votes.

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/o.... The author, Robert Rubin, (Yale law/Harvard/London School of Economics) was Treasury Sec. during the Clinton adm. (Balanced Budget!) Long career w/Goldman Sachs. Read his excellent book: "The Yellow Pad: Making Better Decisions in an Uncertain World."

nytimes.comOpinion | In Six Decades of Public Life, I Never Thought I Would Write This Piece (Gift Article)Trump’s meddling would have dark consequences for our democracy and our prosperity.

Rubin cont'd: "If the Trump adm. launches an effort to manipulate the outcome of the midterms, the economic impact could be felt immediately, and it could last long after Mr. Trump’s presidency ends. With the exception of the booming A.I. sector, corporate investment is already weak."

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/u.... TRUMP: PARDONS FOR SALE $50M Proponents from both political parties argue that recent high-profile use of broad and highly controversial clemency actions (primarily by Trump) demonstrate a need for structural checks to safeguard accountability & public trust.

nytimes.comA Billionaire Wanted a Trump Pardon. His Family Gave Alina Habba a $50 Million Deal. (Gift Article)Julio Herrera Velutini, a prominent Venezuelan, was seeking clemency. He got it not long after his daughter gave Ms. Habba, a lawyer close to President Trump, an extraordinarily lucrative job.

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/u.... Trump is trying to hide all evidence of his dirty dealings. He wants to get rid of the Presidential Records Act ('78) w/ dictates that official records of presidents & vice presidents belong to the American public rather than the office holders as private property.

nytimes.comAppeals Court Questions Justice Dept. Claim That Trump Owns White House Records (Gift Article)A three-judge panel appeared unconvinced by claims that a federal law requiring the president to preserve and hand over his presidential papers was unconstitutional.

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti.... An older Bloomberg article from 2017 that I wished all Trump supporters had read. He acknowledged many of his lies during a legal deposition. So many Trump supporters were & are willfully ignorant. They re-elected an insurrectionist, felon, sexual abuser & liar.

bloomberg.comMy Lawyers Got Trump to Admit 30 Lies Under OathTrump sued me, then had to acknowledge 30 times during a deposition that he had lied over the years about a wide range of issues.

2. Convicted Binance CEO C. Zhao supported the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial "WLF" with a complete build out of WLF's platform & stablecoin transaction integration. Zhao also arranged a U.A.E. $2B investment in Binance & used Trump's stablecoin! Then, Trump pardoned Zhao!!

1. J.D.VANCE IS A LIAR. HE RECENTLY SAID THAT HE HAS SEEN NO EVIDENCE THAT TRUMP CORRUPTLY BENEFITED FROM HIS PRESIDENCY. OMG 😱. Perhaps he "PURPOSELY" did not see Trump's certified annual fin disclosure report released by the U.S. Office of Govt Ethics on 6/30/26, showing $1.4B in crypto income?

www.bloomberg.com/news/article.... BLOOMBERG GIFT ARTICLE. The Ukraine "believes the Trump adm. throttled back the information-sharing, allowing missiles in a first wave of attacks to get through, then reinstating the early warning system for a second wave of attacks later in the evening."

bloomberg.comUkraine Suspects US Blocking Intelligence About Russian AttacksUkrainian officials say they suspect the US is intermittently restricting intelligence sharing despite Trump administration denials, allowing Russian projectiles to strike Ukraine without warning — in...

Tom Nichols cont'd: 'To judge from the available evidence, he has not done so out of a cold calculation of the national interest. Instead, he has based his decisions on his own interests; his open admiration for Russia’s dictator; his resentment of Ukraine’s democratically elected president."

I still believe, but obviously can't prove, that Putin has something on Trump. Perhaps the "Golden Showers" tape, but perhaps something even worse - pictures of Epstein-related pedophilia? I've read over 20 books about Trump, incl. The Mueller Report, The 1/6 Report & The Jack Smith Report, part 1.

wapo.st/47tgE3d Fareed: Rubio misunderstands.What truly distinguishes western civilization is not its military power/national pride.It developed a set of ideas that challenged the arbitrary exercise of power: reason, scientific inquiry, individual liberty, democracy, the rule of law & human rights.

wapo.stOpinion | Marco Rubio misunderstands what makes the West greatHis speech in Greece celebrated power and strength, overlooking the revolutionary idea of universal rights.

Fareed continues: "The capacity for self criticism is not a weakness." Even though western civilization made many errors, "it is one of the West's greatest strengths that it can push itself to live up to its ideals." Its ideals were transformative.

It was (5) R nominated SCOTUS judges who voted in favor of Citizens United "CU" Scalia (Reagan 1986) Kennedy (Reagan 1987) Thomas (G.H.W. Bush 1991) Alito (G.W.Bush 2005) Roberts (G.W. Bush 2005) Rs opened the floodgates for the wealthy to wield undue influence. H. Clinton wanted to overturn "CU".