[SD U-T] The disgraced former DEMOCRAT
mayor of Baltimore who resigned amid investigations into deals to sell her self-published children's books has been charged with fraud and tax evasion.
An 11-count federal indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses DEMOCRAT
Catherine Pugh of abusing her office for personal gain.
Pugh resigned in early May after authorities began probing whether she arranged bulk sales of "Healthy Holly" books to disguise hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks.
[NYPOST] Two corrections officers tasked with guarding Jeffrey Want Some Candy, Little Girl? Epstein ...A high class pimp financier who was alleged to maintain a stable of underage whoressex slaves who were paid big bucks to entertain the rich and/or famous. He is a registered sex offender and made att least 17 out-of-court settlements with former members of his stable, with some cases still ongoing. 2011 court docs reveal that 21 email addresses and phone numbers for Bill Clinton and an aide were found in Epstein's electronic black book, and that Clinton frequently flew with Epstein on his private plane between 2002 to 2005. But really, they were probably just discussing finance or politix or something. While getting massaged. Then things got serious, Jeff was tossed in the slammer in New York and then he killed himself. Really. That's what happened... at the time of his suicide have been arrested, sources said Tuesday.
The two officers will face charges related to accusations of falsifying prison records at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where Epstein died on Aug. 10 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Both guards were working overtime at the time of the financier’s death and allegedly failed to check on Epstein every half-hour as they were required to do. The charges stem from the duo falsifying forms to claim they’d carried out the required check-ins.
They will appear in Manhattan federal court later Tuesday.
While the city medical examiner ruled the pedophile’s hanging death a suicide, a forensic pathologist hired by his brother Mark Epstein has said his autopsy was more consistent with homicidal strangulation.
The 66-year-old multimillionaire was placed on suicide watch after he was found with marks on his neck on July 23 but was removed from the monitoring a week before his death.
Federal prosecutors offered the corrections officers plea deals, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named previously reported, but the officers turned them down.
The warden of the MCC, Lamine N’Diaye, was also reassigned in the wake of Epstein’s death, pending an investigation.
What is the penalty for that? A bit of googling suggests a couple years. Being corrections officers, I guessing they get stashed somewhere special so as not to interact with the GenPop. Time off for good behavior. Maybe not a bad price for a big payday. Gotta keep your mouth shut though. Otherwise, it's Epsteins all the way down...
#7
The arrests fît a story that gives a thin figleaf to the suicide lié. They quickly bail out and months go by as they are on admin leave and then the charges change to something prearranged and convincing for all concerned. Voilà a cold trail assuma conspiracy theory status and can be dismissed as right wing crackpot nonsense. Think they have a sweet deal somewhere, follow the money if you can and discover the truth when you hit the powerful roadblocks.
h/t Instapundit
(Interfax-Ukraine) ‐ Ukrainian members of parliament have demanded the presidents of Ukraine and the United States, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, investigate suspicions of the legalization of $7.4 billion by the "family" of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych through the American investment fund Franklin Templeton Investments, which they said has ties to the U.S. Democratic Party.
#4
Hold on there, ponder. The Ukrainian MPs are either totally incompetent financially or else something was garbled in translation. This is absurd: ""the Yanukovych 'family' illegally obtained $7.4 billion and laundered the funds through an investment fund close to some representatives of the U.S. Democratic Party in the form of external government loan bonds."
Yanukovich i semya grabbed $7.4 billion? Really? They misappropriated a miulti-billion $ government bond offering to their personal accounts? If so, then the entire governmental apparatus must have been in on the heist. But not bloody likely.
Also, iiuc Sir John Templeton was a devout Christian fundamentalist who lived out his days in the Caribbean. Neither his firm nor BlackRock has ever had any attachment to the US Democratic Party.
Let's not get entangled in Ukraine's madness. Again, Ukraine is Africa with white faces. A complete shitshow.
#6
Yanukovich i semya grabbed $7.4 billion? Really?
Yanukovich (real Putin puppet, got elected through ballot stuffing in east Ukraine) turned the entire country into a bribe machine. You couldn't even die in Ukraine w/o bribing someone. The $100 million house he built w/ bribe money during his rule.
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] Amid months of speculation, Stacey Abrams said that she would be "happy" to run for vice president alongside the Democratic nominee.
Abrams is the 45-year-old former Democratic nominee for Georgia governor who lost a close race against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018. She has repeatedly tamped down rumors that a meeting she held in March with Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden ...Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant... , 76, was to discuss running as his number two.
Speaking at an event in Iowa on Monday, Abrams said that she would consider joining the ticket of whoever wins the nomination, according to the Daily Iowan.
"You do not run in a primary for second place, so no, for whatever rumors are out there," Abrams said. "However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... I’m not in the primary, but you can run as second in the general election, and I am happy to do so with the nominee. That is my answer."
There was also some speculation that Abrams, who has little political experience beyond the state legislature, would run for president. Abrams went back and forth on whether she wanted to run for president, try for a Georgia Senate seat in 2020, or make another gubernatorial bid in 2022. But she ruled out both a Senate run in August and a presidential run that same month.
You notice that no one enters the primaries for the vice-president's job? Go file. Before someone decides to stack the deck again, take the opening since you won't face any opposition.
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] Rep. Matt Gaetz celebrated the news on Monday that the woman who threw a sports drink at him had been sentenced to 15 days in prison for the attack.
"Physical assault has no place in our political discourse," Gaetz said. "I am grateful that law enforcement and our judicial system recognized this principle today."
During a campaign event in June, Amanda Kondrat'yev threw a red drink at the congressman from the Florida panhandle. She was there along with other protesters who shouted at him and held signs telling him to "wipe the blood off his hands" and shamed him for his "A+" rating from the NRA.
"Constituents deserve to be safe at events hosted by our congressional office. My staff deserves to be safe," Gaetz said in a victim impact statement submitted in court. "Their families and mine shouldn’t have to worry that while federal officials are doing their jobs, we are at risk of assault."
Kondrat'yev, a 35-year-old wife and mother of two, briefly ran against Gaetz as a Democratic challenger in the 2016 election, according to the Pensacola Journal. She faced up to a year in prison as a result of her conviction.
[NYPOST] Here’s one act he had no problem passing.
A congressman from Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, became the butt of everyone’s joke for appearing to fart on live television Monday night.
Rep. Eric Swalwell was mid-sentence on MSNBC’s "Hardball with Chris My Thigh is Tingling! Matthews ... the late Tip O'Neill's former gopher who has magazines with centerfolds of Barack Obama in his bathroom... " when it sounded like he let ’er rip.
"Chris, so far the evidence is uncontradicted that the president used taxpayer dollars to help him cheat ‐" Swalwell says with a pause, as the noise is clearly heard, "‐ an election."
But the 39-year-old Democrat, who’s been in Congress since 2013 and sits on the House Judiciary Committee, was quick to deny the apparent tummy troubles.
[THECONSERVATIVETREEHOUSE] HPSCI Ranking Member Devin Nunes questioned NSC official Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman about whether he had shared the contents of the phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Zelensky with anyone outside the White House.
In responding Vindman stated "two people", and then named State Dept George Kent, and a person from the intelligence community. Then things get interesting. Vindman refused to name the intelligence agency because it would likely expose the CIA "whistle-blower".
This non-answer makes Alexander Vindman the source for the CIA "whistleblower" Eric Ciaramella.
#6
LTG Kellogg came on line and said he was also on the call but heard nothing inappropriate. This is the Army trying to salvage its reputation. Kellogg was doing wat an Army officer is supposed to do around politics-remain silent. But this dumbass LTC has decided the Ukraine comes before the USA, we call that going native. He embarrassed the officer corps, the DAO officer, the Army and DOD. he will forever be shunned by what was once called his peers, he will retire in shame, I for one hope he realized the shame he brought to the rest of us and lives a long life as a shameful representative of what happens when you forget what country your represent.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/20/2019 10:01 Comments ||
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#7
49 Pan, "he will retire in shame".
Nonsense. He has no sense of shame. He feels he did the "right thing".
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/20/2019 10:28 Comments ||
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#8
...and gigs in various Left wing media, lobby, or think tank organizations.
#9
The only catch is that if he retires, he's still subject to recall and any UCMJ violations a priori. If the environment changes, his fortunes may too.
#12
g(r)omgoru, Lt Colonel is a correct Rank in the US military.
"In the United States Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Air Force, a lieutenant colonel is a field-grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services."
Any commissioned officer, cadet, or midshipman who is convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
[Free Beacon] Former independent counsel Ken Starr said Tuesday that the impeachment hearings have yet to produce any compelling testimony from witnesses accusing President Donald Trump of any unlawful acts.
Starr, who conducted the investigation that led to President Bill Clinton's impeachment, said that impeaching Trump based on the evidence offered in the opening days of the hearing would be an "extravagant" move.
"What we hear is ’improper,'" Starr said about witnesses' testimony so far. "I've never heard the suggestion ’unlawful.' I think again the president's judgment is being called into question‐whether this is wise or not, but not a crime."
Starr criticized House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) for acting as a prosecutor rather than an evenhanded leader of his committee.
"The chairman has chosen to be chief prosecutor," Starr said. "He long ago left the idea of being the fair and balanced chair of the committee, and he uses terms such as bribery and extortion. But we're not hearing that from the witnesses."
Fox News host Bill Hemmer asked Starr about ranking Republican Devin Nunes's (Calif.) approach at the hearings. "What he's driving at is there really is no crime," Starr replied. "This is in the nature, as we've been saying, of an oversight hearing. Do we like the president's style? Was it an appropriate thing for him to do? And reasonable people can say he should not have done that. Perfectly reasonable conclusion. But the idea that this is an impeachable offense is to me quite extreme, it's extravagant."
Starr said congressional Democrats were wielding their impeachment power as a political weapon.
"It's certainly not what the founding generation intended," he said. "Here we are 11 months and a few days away from a presidential election. It's extravagant, it's political."
During Starr's independent counsel investigation, President Clinton did commit a crime by lying under oath. The GOP-controlled House impeached him for perjury and obstruction of justice, but the Democrat-led Senate did not vote to convict him. The Senate was split 50-50 on whether Clinton obstructed justice, falling short of the needed 67 votes to convict.
Starr later said he regretted how his investigation turned to Clinton's sexual relationship with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky, although he said he still sees "no practical alternative." Clinton stridently denied the allegations but eventually admitted he had engaged in a relationship with Lewinsky.
#2
Newspeak, per the Shitshow:
"Austere religious scholar" = f---ing murdering monster
"Some people did something" = mass jihadi slaughter of infidels on 9/11
"interagency consensus" = conspiracy behind attempted palace coup
Term formerly used in reference to national intelligence estimates, now broadened to describe collective agreements on governance and policy made by the Intelligence Community unelected shadow government and Deep State decision makers.
When reading or listening to someone use the term 'interagency agreement', caution should be advised.
#5
The only charge they (think) they need is "Orange man bad". The rest is just details.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/20/2019 8:21 Comments ||
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#6
They all agree they hate him, but no crime yet.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/20/2019 10:02 Comments ||
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#7
I've been asking this question all along. Is it not wise for a president to try to ascertain that large sums of money given to a foreign government will not end up in the pockets of people like Hunter Biden?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/20/2019 11:19 Comments ||
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#8
That is why support for impeachment has dropped. The people gave the benefit of doubt initially but even the dim are starting to see the sham.
The zealots remain but they don't care about breaking the law, they want to break Trump.
[Free Beacon] Sen. John N. Kennedy (R., La.) during a Tuesday hearing listed off three things that don't hang themselves: Christmas ornaments, drywall, and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
"Christmas ornaments, drywall and Jeffrey Epstein‐name three things that don’t hang themselves. That’s what the American people think," Kennedy said. "And they deserve some answers."
The Louisiana senator was questioning Federal Bureau of Prisons director Kathleen Sawyer about Epstein's death in federal custody.
Questions have surrounded Epstein's alleged suicide by hanging. Conspiracy theories have spread that the sexual predator was murdered by the government or by his influential associates. Kennedy urged transparency to quell the rumors surrounding his death.
"I need you to take a very respectful message today," Kennedy told the director. "Tell the American people what happened. And don't rush it so that they don't do a thorough investigation. But you and I both know they can make this a top priority and get it done more quickly than they normally would. They need to do that and I would like you to deliver that message."
"I agree with you sir. I can pass along the message, but the FBI and the inspector general's office works on their own timeframe," Sawyer said. "I want the investigation completed as soon as possible too."
The Justice Department is currently probing the matter and have charged two guards with six counts of falsifying prison records. The two guards were on duty the night of Epstein's death and allegedly failed to conduct routine checks; they are also accused of changing internal records to cover up these lapses.
#1
"Per the advice of my counsel, I (Vindman) have been advised not to answer specific questions about members of the intelligence community," the witness said.
Vindman has the interests of himself and the CIA in mind, nothing more.
I believe Foreign Area Officers (FAO's) used to be managed and assigned from the very small FAO division in the Pentagon. Whomever he worked for in the National Security Council (NSC) would constitute his chain of command, rater, etc. I have no idea who the next uniformed person in his chain would be.
West Point graduate Colonel John Young Filmore Blake (1856-1907) lead the Irish Brigade against the British in the Boer War. Buried at West Point Cemetery, NY. (Third from left in foto).
Digressing even further, I'm calling that handsome horse in the photo a Basuto.
[ConsortiumNews] The FBI relied on CrowdStrike’s "conclusion" to blame Russia for hacking DNC servers, though the private firm never produced a final report and the FBI never asked them to, as Ray McGovern explains.
CrowdStrike, the controversial cybersecurity firm that the Democratic National Committee chose over the FBI in 2016 to examine its compromised computer servers, never produced an un-redacted or final forensic report for the government because the FBI never required it to, the Justice Department has admitted.
The revelation came in a court filing by the government in the pre-trial phase of Roger Stone, a long-time Republican operative who had an unofficial role in the campaign of candidate Donald Trump. Stone has been charged with misleading Congress, obstructing justice and intimidating a witness.
The filing was in response to a motion by Stone’s lawyers asking for "unredacted reports" from CrowdStrike in an effort to get the government to prove that Russia hacked the DNC server. "The government ... does not possess the information the defandant seeks," the filing says.
In his motion, Stone’s lawyers said he had only been given three redacted drafts. In a startling footnote in the government’s response, the DOJ admits the drafts are all that exist. "Although the reports produced to the defendant are marked ’draft,’ counsel for the DNC and DCCC informed the government that they are the last version of the report produced," the footnote says.
In other words CrowdStrike, upon which the FBI relied to conclude that Russia hacked the DNC, never completed a final report and only turned over three redacted drafts to the government.
These drafts were "voluntarily" given to the FBI by DNC lawyers, the filing says. "No redacted information concerned the attribution of the attack to Russian actors," the filing quotes DNC lawyers as saying.
In Stone’s motion his lawyers argued: "If the Russian state did not hack the DNC, DCCC, or [Clinton campaign chairman John] Podesta’s servers, then Roger Stone was prosecuted for obstructing a congressional investigation into an unproven Russian state hacking conspiracy ... The issue of whether or not the DNC was hacked is central to the Defendant’s defense."
The DOJ responded: "The government does not need to prove at the defendant’s trial that the Russians hacked the DNC in order to prove the defendant made false statements, tampered with a witness, and obstructed justice into a congressional investigation regarding election interference." Much, much more at the link.
People ask me why Trump sent Giuliani to investigate Burisma instead of the FBI. I tell them Trump cannot trust the FBI. They look at me like my head is on backwards because they get all their news from MSM.
#2
I don't understand cybersecurity very well however there were some other cybersecurity companies that reached the same general conclusion as crowdstrike, that is that the hacking of the DNC was the work of a Russian operation.
Other conclusions of the crowdstrike company, e.g., that a Russian operation had hacked a Ukraine artillery unit, were, however, contested by other cybersecurity companies. Ukraine itself rejected crowdstrike's conclusion regarding the artillery unit.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/20/2019 6:24 Comments ||
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#3
More telling was earlier questioning by House Intelligence Committee member, Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), who had been a CIA officer for a decade.On March 20, 2017 while he was still FBI director, Comey evidenced some considerable discomfort as he tried to explain to the committee why the FBI did not insist on getting physical access to the DNC computers and do its own forensics:
Few people need permission to walk their own dog. No need to "insist" on anything. They very likely already had the content.
#5
The transfer speed is a giveaway. No way on earth that a dinky operation like the DNC would have paid for the kind of content delivery speeds that a YouTube or an ecommerce site customer of say Akamai would be paying.
IOW the probability that the download made a round-trip to Eastern Europe is about zero.
Almost certainly the data was copied to a USB Flash drive, which destroys the CrowdStrike hypothesis and points to an inside job. Several ex-NSA experts arrived at this conclusion.
This Russia-hacked-the-DNC notion is yet another absurd act in The Shitshow.
[Jpost] Blue and White leader Benny Gantz informed President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday evening that he did not succeed in forming a governing coalition.
Gantz returned the mandate four hours before the midnight deadline. Dodged the bullet of Arab supported minority government!!!
Ah, there it is: After unanticipated troubles in testing and integration, NASA officially pushes launch of James Webb Space Telescope to March 30, 2021, bringing estimated total lifetime cost for the observatory to $9.66 billion. https://t.co/QiWk7RBEos
A tech CEO's #Tesla has been broken into 4 times in 18 months at the same city parking lot, and he's so frustrated with the city's response, he's thinking of relocating his software company. https://t.co/at8JIkKgxMpic.twitter.com/raMi7gt2nK
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.