An internal investigation by the Department of Justice asserts there was no wrongdoing by the department in the controversial Operation Choke Point. Oh well, if you say everything is on the level we'll just all go home now.
Operation Choke Point is run through the Department of Justice, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Consumer Financial Protection Board and targets how banks handle accounts with the gun industry, payday lenders, casinos, check cashers and debt collectors, among other businesses deemed as high risk by the government. Anyone to the right of Stalin
Last May, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued a report saying there was strong evidence to show the operation was unfairly targeting legal businesses by denying industries such as gun dealers, payday lenders and others access to financial services needed for survival and forcing banks to terminate relationships with several legitimate businesses that regulators said posed a "reputational risk" for the banks.
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) led more than 30 other members of Congress to ask for the Justice Department internal probe from the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility and from its inspector general.
The OPR determined that Justice Department attorneys did not engage in professional misconduct or target industries in an improper way during the operation.
"Neither the design nor the initial implementation of Operation Choke Point specifically focused on Internet payday lenders or their lending practices," the OPR report says.
The OPR is charged with conducting unbiased investigations of misconduct allegations against Department attorneys. Kinda like asking a criminal con-man to write a report on why he isn't guilty.
The report found that while Justice Department attorneys viewed payday lenders "in a negative light," there wasn't evidence to suggest that the department issued subpoenas unfairly.
Brian Wise, a senior adviser to the U.S. Consumer Coalition, which opposes the operation, called the investigation "a farce."
"If the administration was serious about an investigation, they wouldn't have had the very agency that is being investigated conduct it," Wise told TheBlaze in a statement. They aren't because they want the public disarmed.
#2
Yet another example of the government agencies being turning into political instruments to punish those who don't hold the views of the party, just like the old Soviet Union. Government is becoming not the servant but the master, and increasingly, more tyrannical. Consider the EPA.....
#3
I am told the cameras are inexpensive but the download time and cost of storage is what they say is the issue. Maryland isn't going for them I'm told as of 8/5/15.
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#1
imho, the only reason President Poser would make this kind of solicitation is that he is hoping the "Thump-Trump-a-thon" will make all the 'pubs look worse than any announced or unannounced Donk.
Though the Fox News promos state it is a debate of Republican candidates, most of the network's on-air personalities have admitted publicly it has turned into the Donald Trump show as the top GOP contender has become the single most referenced topic on the minds of everyone following the 2016 Race for the White House.
That reality is not sitting well with GOP power brokers who are said to have made it clear to operatives linked to a variety of candidate camps that Donald Trump cannot be allowed to appear to win tomorrow night's debate. Some are said to have taken an even more aggressive stance by indicating Trump's Republican rivals are to "take him out" tomorrow night.
Trump has shocked the GOP establishment with his currently growing base of support based largely on his straight talk and a repeated promise to "Make America Great Again."
That dominance is said to be facing its most focused challenge tomorrow night as Mr. Trump will be target #1 for a number of GOP hopefuls who have been told their own presidential hopes will be finished if they do not help in breaking the Trump momentum once and for all. This threat is said to come from an assortment of Wall Street and business interests concerned over the potential volatility of a Trump political machine -- volatility that might make him "unmanageable" should he actually go on to become the Republican nominee.
It should also be noted some of these high-powered donors are helping to finance the campaigns of BOTH Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush. Presently, Donald Trump represents the single greatest threat to their intention of controlling the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Of the candidates who are said to have been given their anti-Trump marching orders last night, one was apparently told with the greatest sense of urgency -- Senator Marco Rubio.
Senator Rubio is currently sitting near the bottom of the top-tier candidate rankings with just 5% support among Republican voters. He was not so long ago viewed by some to be a legitimate contender for the GOP nomination. If he is to regain that former momentum (and the all-important campaign dollars that come to a real contender) he must prove himself to the political donor class tomorrow night by coming out aggressively against Mr. Trump.
It was reportedly the Rubio campaign that was specifically given the directive to, "take Trump out" during this week's debate.
Maybe if you refuse to give up your children to die to defend their power (as in the real 'consent of the governed'), they might notice that we've noticed.
#4
Most likely these are the same high powered donors who contributed to both McCain and Obama, most likely the same bunch of crooks who were bailed out with taxpayer dollars after the 2008 crash that was brought on by their own greed, graft and stupidity. It's no surprise they don't want a real election.
#5
Rubio seems to be a nice enough fellow, but can't shake the feeling he is easily manipulated by those with nice promises. Probably has a few skeletons to keep in the closet as well.
[Wash Free Bacon] A group of former special operations forces and intelligence community members are calling on the State Department to revoke "any and all security clearances" still held by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her confidants in the wake of revelations Clinton used a private email server to transfer classified information.
OPSEC, an advocacy group comprised of former intelligence and security officials, petitioned Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday to revoke classified privileges for Clinton, as well as her former chief of staff Cheryl Mills, her former deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan, and her top adviser Huma Abedin, according to a copy of the letter.
The group maintains that Clinton and her allies should have their clearances revoked until government agencies can determine whether they broke the law by exchanging emails on a private email server outside of the State Department's jurisdiction.
At least two inspectors general at the State Department and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) have come forward to say that classified information had been mishandled during Clinton's tenure as secretary of state.
"These four very senior officials, ... while still employed by the Department, violated a plethora of department directives and Title 18 U.S. Code by their involvement with a privately owned and operated email server and domain to send and receive official emails, some of which contained" classified and secret information, OPSEC writes in its letter.
Clinton may have violated at least four laws governing the exchange of sensitive information, according to OPSEC.
The violations include removing information, some of it classified, and storing it in an "unauthorized location." The law also forbids the disclosure of Foreign Government Information (FGI), whether it is classified or not, according to OPSEC.
Clinton and her allies may have also violated laws pertaining to Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) materials, Personally Identifying Information (PII), and Critical Infrastructure Information (CII), OPSEC says.
"There is ample evidence that this private server was inadequately protected from foreign intelligence penetration and malicious 'hacking,'" OPSEC writes in its letter to Kerry. "Indeed, the existence of this server and its use by senior State Department officials to send and receive official emails was first disclosed publicly by a hacker from Romania."
The State Department should adhere to normal protocol by revoking all security clearances for Clinton and her former advisers, the group writes.
"The Department of State should exercise its administrative authority to suspend any existing security clearances of these four individuals and those of any and all other individuals currently or formerly in the employ of the United States Government who may have used in any form the clintonemail.com service, pending final adjudication," they letter states.
Scott Taylor, president of OPSEC, said in a statement that the State Department should not play political games when national security secrets are at stake.
"The American people must be assured that the Departments of State and Justice and the relevant congressional oversight committees are committed to ensuring that the laws and policies governing handling of classified materials are efficiently and consistently enforced to protect the national security of this country and its citizens," Taylor said. "Hence, we call on Secretary Kerry to take immediately the first and essential step in fulfilling that obligation."
A State Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a Washington Free Beacon request for comment on OPSEC's letter and the claims made by the group. Not a snowball's chance in hell, but I certainly enjoyed reading it 5 times.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
An internal investigation by the Department of Justice asserts there was no wrongdoing by the department in the controversial Operation Choke Point.
Though the Fox News promos state it is a debate of Republican candidates, most of the network's on-air personalities have admitted publicly it has turned into the Donald Trump show as the top GOP contender has become the single most referenced topic on the minds of everyone following the 2016 Race for the White House.
