Seagal, Steven

<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;"> == hmmn<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RussiaLago/comments/9529qd/the_shadows_of_erik_prince_peter_thiel_and/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.reddit.com/r/RussiaLago/comments/9529qd/the_shadows_of_erik_prince_peter_thiel_and/</a><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="s1w8oh2o-14 dSrgZx" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Maricopa County<p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Maricopa County hired Patton Boggs from 2010-2012. Maricopa County’s sherriff at the time was Joe Arapio, whom Trump pardoned for his crimes in 2017.<p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In 2011 Trump met with Steve Bannon over a possible 2011 run for the presidency (1). Soon after, Trump and Arapio heavily pushed the Obama birther conspiracy (2)(3) and Trump would later even emulate Arpaio’s “concentration camps” (4)(5). At the time Arpaio worked closely with Steven Seagal, even raiding a home with a military tank in September, 2011(6). Steven Seagal shared a business partner with Paul Manafort, Julius Nasso, who was connected to the Gambino crime family and worked with Manafort selling Russian nuclear tech in the US (7). in 2016, Vladimir Putin would personally reward Seagal with Russian citizenship (8).<p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On March 19 2013, Rohrabacher met with Paul Manafort, Vin Weber, and Rick Gates while Manafort was working as an unregistered foreign agent of Ukraine and their pro-Russian Party of Regions (9), a meeting central to Gates guilty plea in the Mueller investigation (10). Two months later Dana Rohrabcher met with the Russian FSB and the head of the FSB, Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin, arranged and attended by none other than Steven Seagal (11) (12).<p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The man who introduced Steven Seagal to Vladimir Putin, Bob Van Ronkel, happened to attend Donald Trump's Miss Universe 2013 contest in Moscow (13).<ol class="s1w8oh2o-13 gUSQAg" style="margin: 4px 0px 4px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style-position: outside; list-style-image: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/politics/steve-bannon-donald-trump-relationship/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/politics/steve-bannon-donald-trump-relationship/index.html</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/07/trump-sends-investigators-to-hawaii-to-look-into-obama/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/07/trump-sends-investigators-to-hawaii-to-look-into-obama/</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/05/22/153313783/sheriff-arpaio-sends-publicly-funded-deputy-to-hawaii-on-birther-hunt" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/05/22/153313783/sheriff-arpaio-sends-publicly-funded-deputy-to-hawaii-on-birther-hunt</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/aug/21/arizona-phoenix-concentration-camp-tent-city-jail-joe-arpaio-immigration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/aug/21/arizona-phoenix-concentration-camp-tent-city-jail-joe-arpaio-immigration</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-donald-trump-is-still-setting-up-concentration-camps-on-american-soil-1.6197513" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-donald-trump-is-still-setting-up-concentration-camps-on-american-soil-1.6197513</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032973/Steven-Seagal-killed-puppy-reality-police-breaking-cockfighting-ring.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032973/Steven-Seagal-killed-puppy-reality-police-breaking-cockfighting-ring.html</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RussiaLago/comments/8rrnkx/how_trumps_mob_ties_led_to_paul_manafort_in/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.reddit.com/r/RussiaLago/comments/8rrnkx/how_trumps_mob_ties_led_to_paul_manafort_in/</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/steven-seagal-vladimir-putin-russian-citizenship" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/steven-seagal-vladimir-putin-russian-citizenship</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-rohrabacher-s-meeting-with-manafort-1498680385-htmlstory.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-rohrabacher-s-meeting-with-manafort-1498680385-htmlstory.html</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2018/02/23/gates-accused-of-lying-about-manafort-meeting-with-rohrabacher-weber-114848" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2018/02/23/gates-accused-of-lying-about-manafort-meeting-with-rohrabacher-weber-114848</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/steven-seagal-opened-doors-us-delegation-moscow/story?id=19310164" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">https://abcnews.go.com/International/steven-seagal-opened-doors-us-delegation-moscow/story?id=19310164</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/congress-in-russia-seagal-bonding-few-facts.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/congress-in-russia-seagal-bonding-few-facts.html</a></li><li class="s1w8oh2o-11 vSpYb" style="margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="s1w8oh2o-27 gauDEJ" href="https://www.npr.org/2018/07/03/624059365/how-did-steven-seagal-and-vladimir-putin-become-bffs-bob-van-ronkel-introduced-t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.npr.org/2018/07/03/624059365/how-did-steven-seagal-and-vladimir-putin-become-bffs-bob-van-ronkel-introduced-t</a></li></ol><p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="s1w8oh2o-14 dSrgZx" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Palantir<p class="s1w8oh2o-10 bQeEFC" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.25em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">At the same time, Peter Thiel’s Palantir hired Patton-Boggs from 2010-2014.<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">From his position as chair of the Judiciary Committee, Graham has the ability to deliver some real red meat to the president and his followers. Last week Igor Derysh reported for Salon on Graham’s plans to investigate Hillary Clinton, something I’ve been predicting for more than a year. All you have to do is watch Fox News for any 10-minute interval and you’ll see that their Clinton obsession burns even hotter than it did in 2016. Now Graham is prepared to throw fuel on the fire.
This week in the latest episode of phony handwringing from the newly anointed civil libertarians of the Republican Party, they are all bellowing about how the FBI treated the self-aggrandizing dirty trickster Roger Stone — which was the same way it would treat any other accused criminal.  Fox News’ Tucker Carlson said the FBI had staged “what was, in effect, a military assault on Roger Stone.” Andrew Napolitano lamented, “This is jackboots in America, and there is no place for that in American life!”Here’s onetime Phoenix sheriff Joe Arpaio, rending his garments over the inhumanity of it all, and being schooled by journalist Radley Balko, an expert on militarized law enforcement excesses:Radley Balko?@radleybalko Arpaio once sent 40 SWAT cops, a bomb robot, K9 units, and Steven Seagal to arrest a man suspected of cockfighting. Seagal drove an APC into the man's living room. They destroyed the guy's house with explosives, then filmed it all for a reality TV show. https://twitter.com/RealSheriffJoe/status/1090314139451285504 …
Sheriff Joe Arpaio@RealSheriffJoeSheriff Joe on FBI's Roger Stone Raid: Ive Been Busting Down Doors for 50 Years &; Ive Never Sent That Many Units to the Baddest Murderer https://www.westernjournal.com/sheriff-joe-fbis-roger-stone-raid-busting-doors-50-years-never-sent-many-units-baddest-murderer/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=PostTopSharingButtons&utm_campaign=websitesharingbuttons …
33.5K2:03 PM - Jan 29, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy13.2K people are talking about thisYes, the people who gleefully shout “Lock her up!” are suddenly very concerned about due process.<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;"><span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/bizarro-world-steven-seagal-putins-special-diplomatic-envoy-president-trump">https://www.alternet.org/bizarro-world-steven-seagal-putins-special-diplomatic-envoy-president-trump</a><span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">Hopefully there will someday be a filmmaker out there who will tell the story of Steven Seagal, the Hollywood action star who spent his life either acting like or fighting for the villainous characters he beat up in his movies. Considering that he was just appointed to be a special diplomatic envoy to the United States, the tale of his villainy and pathetic lack of self-awareness could have genuine historical significance.This article first <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/08/18/the-bizarro-world-of-steven-seagal-hero-in-the-movies-villain-in-real-life/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">appeared in Salon</a>.For one thing, here we have an action star who has made several films ("On Deadly Ground," "The Patriot," "Fire Down Below") with pro-environmental moralizing so hamfisted that his fictional characters occasionally come across like sullen, pony-tailed Captain Planet knock-offs. Real Steven Seagal, on the other hand, has politically aligned himself with President Donald Trump, a global warming denier who has single-handedly <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/06/04/donald-trumps-paris-pullout-could-be-another-league-of-nations-debacle/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">undermined the world's best effort at fighting man-made climate change</a> and appointed a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/scott-pruitt-s-epa-deregulation-destroying-conservative-environmental-legacy-lead-ncna863306" style="text-decoration-line: none;">flagrantly corrupt EPA head that rolled back years of progress in fighting for the environment</a> before resigning in disgrace.<div style="margin-bottom: 20px;">Similarly, Seagal characters were often government operatives who, even if they turned against shadowy establishment figures that betrayed them, never wavered in their loyalty to country and the cause of human freedom. Real-life Seagal, on the other hand, is worse than the Trump supporters who deny the possibility that the president may have betrayed America to Russia for purely partisan or personal reasons. He has actually become <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/08/meet-the-la-dealmaker-who-helped-bring-steven-seagal-and-vladimir-putin-together/?utm_term=.f093ecf844ba" style="text-decoration-line: none;">close friends</a> with the leader of America's chief geopolitical adversary, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who repaid the bromantic love by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2018/aug/09/steven-seagal-russia-us-ties-diplomatic-skills-putin" style="text-decoration-line: none;">appointing Seagal to his new position as special diplomatic envoy</a>. Seagal's love of Putin has even gotten him <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/05/06/amid-putin-bromance-steven-seagal-banned-from-ukraine-as-national-security-threat/?utm_term=.7f483b0040ed" style="text-decoration-line: none;">banned from Ukraine</a> . . . which, of course, would never be a problem for the kind of character who fights corrupt Russian oligarchs in "Driven to Kill."Finally, and most heinously, Seagal has faced a number of accusations of sexual assault and worse. While his cinematic counterparts were doing things like rescuing women and children from sex slavery in films like "Out of Reach," allegations about Seagal himself are harrowing. A number of women have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/03/20/steven-seagal-accused-of-raping-an-18-year-old-adding-to-decades-of-claims-against-the-actor/?utm_term=.b9190f175c30" style="text-decoration-line: none;">accused Seagal of various acts of sexual misconduct</a> dating back as far as the 1990s, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hollywood-misconduct/los-angeles-prosecutors-review-sex-assault-cases-against-actors-seagal-anderson-idUSKBN1KU2RM?feedType=RSS&feedName=newsOne" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Los Angeles prosecutors announced</a> last week that they are looking into sex assault accusations against him. As The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/10/13/steven-seagal-drug-warrior-honorary-cop-alleged-serial-sex-abuser/?utm_term=.1259cdae94ef" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wrote in October</a>:<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In fact, Seagal has been accused of similar behavior by <a href="https://uproxx.com/filmdrunk/a-brief-history-of-steven-seagal-sexual-assault-allegations/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">too many women to count</a>. He was <a href="https://uproxx.com/filmdrunk/a-brief-history-of-steven-seagal-sexual-assault-allegations/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sued for sexual harassment</a> by another of his assistants in 2001. Multiple women have also accused him of inappropriately asking for or offering sexual massages (sound familiar?), <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2010/04/21/seagals-new-accuser-ray-charles-granddaughter-blair-robinson-kayden-nguyen-sexual-assault-lawsuit/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">including Blair Robinson</a>, granddaughter of Ray Charles. Robinson was hired as Seagal’s assistant, then quit after her first day when she said it became clear that sexual favors would be part of the job. <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2010/04/20/steven-seagal-two-more-accusers-kayden-nguyen-sexual-assault/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Another woman</a> accused him of putting his hand down her pants, then refusing to remove it until she screamed. During the filming of Segal’s movie “Out for Justice,” <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/33427/penthouse-says-steven-seagal-abused-women" rel="noopener" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">four female staffers quit</a> after alleging sexual harassment, including one “sexual attack.”</blockquote>I will say this much about Steven Seagal, however: While he is wrong about the negative reports on him being "fake press," he is correct that there is a "political agenda" at work here.Like the president he serves — the American one, not the Russian — Seagal embodies the ugliest sides of American political and cultural life. Just as Trump is plagued by accusations of sexual misconduct, and yet is put in positions of power despite those claims, so too is Seagal able to keep rising through the ranks regardless of alleged misconduct and abuse. Both men are also completely unqualified for the positions of power that they've obtained: They were washed-up entertainers, not statesmen, with Trump being little more than a <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/via/donald-trump-kim-kardashian-paris-hilton/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">male Paris Hilton</a> before being elected president and Seagal having lost the nimble athleticism of his "Under Siege" days. Yet in a culture that can't grasp the fact that fame alone does not endow any wisdom or worthiness, Seagal and Trump have used their bloated masculine images — one as an erstwhile action star, the other as a supposed giant of business — to gain offices they don't deserve.Finally, and most obnoxiously: Both Seagal and Trump fight for causes that enrich themselves and harm innocent people, even as they hypocritically put on populist airs.Trump is famous for being a businessman but has filed for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2016/live-updates/general-election/real-time-fact-checking-and-analysis-of-the-first-presidential-debate/fact-check-has-trump-declared-bankruptcy-four-or-six-times/?utm_term=.820fafd00aea" style="text-decoration-line: none;">multiple business bankruptcies</a>, and while he claims to fight for the working class, his <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/07/06/positive-jobs-reports-masks-coming-trade-war/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">trade policies</a> are hitting target farmers and blue collar workers the hardest. Seagal, meanwhile, presents himself as a deeply spiritual, moral and nature-friendly action star in his movies, yet in real life sells out the environment if doing so will please other frail masculine egos, and exploits the vulnerable instead of protecting them.It is perhaps fitting that Putin, the master manipulator from the KGB, can see right through these phony exteriors to the potential assets just waiting to be cultivated. I suppose it's for the best that neither Trump nor Seagal produced high art (although I'd watch the worst Seagal movie before the best episode of "The Apprentice"), since at least we're not losing anything valuable in the pop culture realm by seeing the creators exposed as hypocrites.Nevertheless, it says something sad about American culture that our has-beens can revive their careers if they just sell their souls to a right-wing despot. It doesn't make the figures of Seagal and Trump any less pathetic, but their elevation to political prominence in America reveals that we're not necessarily that much better.<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;"><span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;"><a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/21/steven-seagal-deep-state-novel-shadow-wolves-joe-arpaio-217031">https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/21/steven-seagal-deep-state-novel-shadow-wolves-joe-arpaio-217031</a><span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">n raban<span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">The  ultimate kitsch artifact from the early days of the Trump era is a novel, The Way of the Shadow Wolves: The Deep State and the Hijacking of America, and it’s written by two patriots deeply concerned with immigration control and the malevolent forces abetting the destruction of America: Tom Morrissey, a U.S. marshal-turned-novelist, and Steven Seagal.Yes, that Steven Seagal: former movie star, ponytail enthusiast, blues guitarist, energy drink proprietor, prolific direct-to-streaming C-list actor, Putin and Trump superfan, alleged serial harasser....

Even as Trump has abandoned birtherism, blaming it all on the nasty FAKE NEWS, neither Seagal nor Morrissey are so swayed by reality and an overwhelming preponderance of evidence. While the authors don’t make explicit reference to forged birth certificates, the massive scope of Barack Obama’s almost satanic evil in Shadow Wolves renders the prospect of a mere faked birth certificate totally inconsequential.Consequently, The Way of the Shadow Wolves isn’t just a conspiracy thriller; it’s more of an every conspiracy thriller. And what sinister mastermind lurks malevolently at the very top of a twisted plan to destroy America by flooding it with terrorists? None other than Barack Hussein Obama.Even a figure as transparently evil as Obama needs help, however, so in Shadow Wolves, Obama is in cahoots with a motley assortment of evildoers, including his Islamic terrorist brethren, a murderous Mexican drug cartel and the shadowy Deep State—forces that would be only too happy to replace the Constitution with Sharia law. All that stands in the way of this sinister cabal, with its hashish-fueled and hooker-laden sex-murder orgies, is a godly, morally pure assemblage of “Shadow Wolves,” Native American lawmen uniquely adept at tracking drug dealers and illegal immigrants. (I was shocked to discover that Shadow Wolves actually exist and are a real unit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, because they’re portrayed here as the ultimate romanticized fantasy of Native Americans: real-life Jedi whose heritage gives them borderline supernatural powers and allows them to live in perfect harmony with nature.)<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size">In his introduction to this Fox News fever dream, Sheriff Joe Arpaio writes, “It is my hope that you have not only enjoyed the story line of The Way of the Shadow Wolves, but you will also think about the message portrayed here. It is less than a hair’s breadth from the frightening truth of what is actually happening today.”<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size">The story is, essentially, a fight pitting Obama and his newfangled Axis of Evil (the Deep State, Islamic jihadists and the Mexican cartel, who obviously share many goals and have complementary ideologies) versus an entire squadron of Billy Jacks. In fact, Seagal and Morrissey repeatedly and reverently reference Billy Jack, the once-ubiquitous but now mostly forgotten film series in which actor/director/co-writer Tom Laughlin portrayed the ultimate underclass lefty avenger—a half-Native American Vietnam veteran-turned-wise protector of everyone left behind in Nixon’s America. Seagal and Morrissey don’t seem to realize that Billy Jack’s politics—anti-war, anti-Big Business, hippie-loving—are antithetical to their own; to them, his defining characteristic is that he was a ridiculous caricature of Native American wisdom and spirituality who also kicked ass. (In a wonderfully representative bit of dialogue in the book, a protagonist actually explains, “Billy Jack was a fictional character who kicked dumb shits, uh, like you, in the nuts. He did that in a lot of his movies.”)  As cautionary warnings go, this is the socio-political equivalent of Reefer Madness in terms of unintentional laughs. Instead of being a terrifying dispatch from tomorrow, it reeks of high camp.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size">Elsewhere in the book, we get a Pizzagate-esque explanation of what exactly the Deep State is, when a Mexican official complains, “It is crystal clear to all of us that the [U.S. government] is completely penetrated, and this trafficking of human jihadists is approved by [Obama] himself and being protected by rogue elements of the CIA, FBI and DEA—the same rogue elements that have been smuggling drugs, guns, gold, cash, and small children for the American elite ever since Allen Dulles and J. Edgar Hoover first created a secret state within a state.” In a law enforcement establishment overflowing with traitors intended on bringing down the nation, Arpaio, who is now running for Senate, is here lovingly referenced as one of the only people who can be trusted.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size">You would imagine a man with as much on his plate as Seagal would hire an actual novelist to ghost-co-write his novel, but The Way of the Shadow Wolves is so adorably incompetent and inept that it’s hard to imagine that a professional writer had anything to do with it.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size">Seagal and Morrissey’s book is intended as a startling warning of the horrible danger our nation is under, but it closes on a hopeful note with the election of Donald Trump—who is not mentioned by name, but is depicted as a white knight (emphasis on white) on a steed saving Western civilization from the evil Muslim hordes that would destroy it.<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size">Following an upswell of patriotism sweeping Trump into office, the authors write toward the book’s end, “The [outgoing] POTUS was in full disaster mode, leading an effort to discredit and drive his successor from office. Fully funded by a multibillionaire outside the country, rioters were being recruited and paid for by this cabal and were waging war against the Constitution and the will of the American people.”All is not lost, however, as the novel ends on a note of breathless hyperbole: “Finally, there was a feeling of tremendous change sweeping across the land as a new president was sworn into office and was immediately beset unto by the Deep State and those left behind from the previous administration. But he was smarter and stronger and far more adept than any of them had ever imagined.”<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size">When Trump first started running for office, a lot of people suspected, perhaps correctly, that his presidential run was little more than a cynical bid to generate interest and excitement in a Trump News Network to the right of Fox News—a plan that went horribly awry when Trump accidentally ended up getting elected president. On a similar note, I can’t but help wonder if Sheriff Joe’s whole senatorial campaign (which would seem quixotic were it not for the fact a former reality TV host and Arpaio superfan sits in the Oval Office) is little more than a bid to win the attention of reality TV producers and generate interest for a Sheriff Joe reality show. I’m sure Seagal would be happy to pop in regularly—after all, Arpaio let the actor join the Maricopa County sheriff’s department for season three of the reality TV dud “Steven Seagal: Lawman.”<p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size">Shadow Wolves ends with a disclaimer: “This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. But always remember that the truth comes in many forms.” Also worth remembering, especially as the line between bad reality TV, conspiracy theory and real life blurs to the point of meaninglessness: Bullshit comes in many forms, too.<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">==<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">playing reality TV <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/steven-seagal-joe-arpaio-deputies-sued-for-reality-show-tank-raid" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 18.2px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">tough guy</a><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;"> with Steven Seagal.

Actor Steven Seagal and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office are facing a lawsuit for allegedly conducting an "improper" raid on a man's home and driving a tank through his front gate, while filming an episode of the reality show Steven Seagal: Lawman.

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Jesus Llovera has filed a civil lawsuit against Seagal and members of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for a <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/steven_seagal_and_arpaio_deputies_sued_for_killing.php" style="text-decoration: none;">raid</a> conducted in March, 2011, based on allegations that Llovera was involved in cockfighting. Llovera filed a claim over the incident last fall.

Llovera, who previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of being present at a cockfight, was suspected of raising roosters and chickens on his property to fight, a felony, and also a violation of his probation.

The Sheriff's Office, which used "a tank, a bomb robot and 40 deputies," according to theArizona Republic, accidentally killed over 100 of Llovera's roosters and his 11-month old dog during the course of the raid.

Several cameras were there to film the incident for the A&E program. Afterwards, producers tried to get Llovera to sign a release for the episode. He refused.

Llovera's suit claims that the raid was conducted for the purposes of the show, and is part of a pattern of Arpaio "arresting and prosecuting individuals without probable cause solely for the selfish and improper purposes of achieving personal and political gain through publicity," the<a href="http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2012/03/01/20120301mcso-seagal-sued-arrest.html" style="text-decoration: none;">Republic</a> reports.

"The search warrant was going to occur with or without Seagal," sheriff's Deputy Chief Dave Trombi previously said. "The search warrant was not based at all on the needs of the production company."

The episode was supposed to air on A&E on January 4, but was pulled from the schedule.

Ed note: An earlier version of this piece said Llovera's earlier claim was separate from the recently filed lawsuit. It was filed as part of the same process.

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