For Besoeker
[WYFF4] Maesaiah Thabane, the first lady of the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho, always knew how to make an entrance.
After weeks in hiding in South Africa, allegedly helped by a recently appointed spokesman who sneaked her away in a government-issue car, Thabane crossed back into Lesotho Feb. 4, passing a phalanx of security forces, and promptly handed herself over to special police.
Later that evening, crown prosecutors charged Thabane with the 2017 murder of Lesotho's previous first lady -- her husband's previous wife -- Lipolelo Thabane, and the attempted murder of another woman.
Maesaiah Thabane was taken into custody.
The first lady's legal team didn't respond to phone calls and text messages from CNN over several days.
The shocking details of the case have gripped this country of fewer than 2 million people, which is entirely surrounded by South Africa, forced Prime Minister Thomas Thabane to promise his resignation and opened the lid on the murky power politics that have long dominated Lesotho's culture.
Unknown assailants gunned down Lipolelo Thabane outside her house in June 2017, just two days before her estranged husband was inaugurated for his second term as PM.
Lipolelo Thabane was shot dead two days before her estranged husband’s inauguration for a second term as PM.
The couple had been separated for some time, but had never formally divorced, and a court had ruled that Lipolelo should keep the benefits and perks that came with the position of first lady.
Her murder paved the way for Maesaiah, who had been in a relationship with the prime minister for several years, to take on that role.
[CBS] Washington ‐ Justice Department officials have been "quietly" reviewing records and documents from Ukraine for "several weeks," a source familiar with the matter tells CBS News.
The source said staff outside of Main Justice in Washington have been assigned by Attorney General William Barr to review the Ukraine matter, adding that the review is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh and is separate from U.S. Attorney John Durham's probe into the origins of the FBI's Russia probe.
The new review includes some material provided by Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, but goes beyond matters regarding former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.
President Trump urged the president of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and supposed Ukrainian election interference in a July 2019 phone call that eventually led to his impeachment. Democrats charged him with abusing his power by pressuring a foreign leader to investigate his domestic political opponent.
But calls to investigate the Bidens and events in Ukraine have gained new life in the wake of Mr. Trump's acquittal in his Senate impeachment trial.
On Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told "Face the Nation" that Barr had established a process for Giuliani to submit information that he collected in Ukraine to the Justice Department. Graham warned that any material coming from the former Soviet republic "could be Russian propaganda."
On Monday, Barr said the Justice Department had "an open door to anybody who wishes to provide us information that they think is relevant" and had established an "intake process in the field" for receiving and verifying material from Ukraine. He said any information from Giuliani or others would be "carefully scrutinized by the department and its intelligence community partners so that we could assess its provenance and its credibility."
"We have to be very careful with respect to any information coming from the Ukraine," Barr said at an unrelated press conference. "There are a lot of agendas in the Ukraine. There are a lot of crosscurrents. And we can't take anything we receive from the Ukraine at face value.'
Democrats reacted with fury over the Justice Department's willingness to examine material about Ukraine and the Bidens, accusing the administration of once again targeting the president's political rivals based on spurious allegations. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler wrote a letter to Barr expressing his "serious concern" over the situation and demanding answers about the "intake process."
"As you know, the Department has formal, established channels by which to receive information and begin investigations," Nadler wrote. "This new channel to Mr. Giuliani would seem to be a significant departure from those traditional channels."
#1
Seems like there is a lot of attention focused on Ukraine-U.S. corruption. Maybe something will come of it. In the HRC email debacle, Comey laid out a great case and then basically said "Move on, nothing to see here."
[Red State] ...Trump responded, "That the Democrats are crooked, they’ve got a lot of crooked things going, that they’re vicious, that they shouldn’t have brought impeachment and that my poll numbers are 10 points higher because of fake news like NBC, which reports that news very inaccurately, probably more inaccurately than CNN if that’s possible."
#4
Trump got hired because voters wanted Trump to kick arse and get something done to clean up the mess that is D.C. Thank you DJT for taking on this mess.
#5
The difference between Bush and Trump. I recall, with distaste, the video clips of reporters repeatedly heckling asking Bush during the run up to the 2004 election: "Tell us what you did wrong during the last period ...? So we can use it as election material for the DNC..." Bush smiled and ignored it like a gentleman while Trump counter punches like a street brawler -- sometimes you just need to punch a bully to stop the bullying.
WASHINGTON (AP) ‐ Attorney General William Barr has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next month, appearing for the first time before the panel as questions swirl about whether he intervened in the case of a longtime ally of President Donald Trump. AG Barr is the Dem's 25m, intermediate target. The long-range target is federal prosecutor John Durham.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., released a letter Wednesday to Barr "to confirm your agreement to testify" on March 31. In the letter, Nadler and committee Democrats write that they have concerns that Barr has misused the criminal justice system for political purposes.
"In your tenure as attorney general, you have engaged in a pattern of conduct in legal matters relating to the president that raises significant concerns for this committee," Nadler and the Democrats wrote.
The Justice Department confirmed Barr would testify. His appearance will be the first before the House Judiciary panel since he became attorney general a year ago, and since he declined an invitation to testify about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report after it was released.
The Democrats said they plan to ask Barr about the department’s decision this week to overrule four federal prosecutors and lower the amount of prison time it would seek for Trump’s confidant Roger Stone. The four prosecutors immediately quit the case, in which Stone was convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election.
They said they will also ask Barr about his department’s announcement that it is taking information that Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is gathering in Ukraine about the president’s Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son. The House voted in December to impeach Trump because of his pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democrats; the GOP-led Senate acquitted him this month.
#4
I can understand their discomfort. Barr is probably locked and loaded for the usual 'October Surprise' the Donks normally try to play on the Trunks. Except this time, its their turn and with someone who knows its war by other means and plans to play it as such rather than turn the other cheek.
#6
I'm puzzled why Barr would agree to be the target of an all-day (if not longer) mudslinging fest. But my inner optimist has suggested that maybe Barr knows that Durham will have issued a few dozen indictments before then, including (we can only hope) all of the Mueller shysters for malicious prosecutions, lying to the courts, etc., etc.
#10
Barr, Durham, et al, better get indictments going that will stick. It's all OODA Loop. When you react, you lose initiative. You need to take back the initiative from the dems, then you get inside their OODA loop so they react. Then you pick up the tempo and in reacting the dems start making mistakes. Just like John Boyd's lessons from dog fighting in the Korean War.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/13/2020 16:52 Comments ||
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The chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party announces his resignation after a disastrous caucus process beset by technical glitches led to a dayslong delay in reporting the results, inconsistencies in the numbers and no clear winner.https://t.co/yHlUpCi9iL
#3
Time to get electronics and software out of our voting entirely. Sunup to sundown poll hours on election day, no "early voting," absentee ballots require an affidavit of need (medical, business travel)
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/13/2020 13:24 Comments ||
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#4
"Absentee voting in NY and voting again in FL, CO, CA, MT" not acceptable answers.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/13/2020 13:27 Comments ||
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#5
..absentee ballots require an affidavit of need
[Right Scoop] Rev. Robert M. Grant Jr., who pastors The Father’s Way Church in Warrenton was invited to pray before the Virginia House of Delegates yesterday morning and gave Democrats an earful as he prayed for over five minutes, condemning both abortion and gay marriage in his prayer. I’ve got it cued up to 3:36 where he begins praying against abortion:
Democrats got so annoyed by his prayer that one of them shouted "Is this a prayer or a sermon?" about the point he starts praying against gay marriage.
According to MRC, some Democrats walked out of the chamber. That isn’t visible on the video, but what you do see in the background is the Speaker banging the gavel to stop the prayer before it’s done and proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance. The pastor’s mic is cut and he slowly realizes what’s going on.
#2
Hopefully, Virginia will get cleaned up soon politically. Their government doesn't seem to be representing most of the people. Virginia, like the country, is mostly red with some blue high-density population areas scattered throughout. If voter fraud and election rigging is cleaned up for the next election, who knows how Virginia might look.
#7
From the pews rang a Democrat rant:
"This isn't the usual 'can't!'"
[Psst! Mr. Jones, wake up! You're on!]
"But I sent you a sword,
A Republican horde,
And--" "G-ddammit, not that kinda 'grant!'"
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.
WASHINGTON (AP) ‐ Attorney General William Barr has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next month, appearing for the first time before the panel as questions swirl about whether he intervened in the case of a longtime ally of President Donald Trump.
[Right Scoop] Rev. Robert M. Grant Jr., who pastors The Father’s Way Church in Warrenton was invited to pray before the Virginia House of Delegates yesterday morning and gave Democrats an earful as he prayed for over five minutes, condemning both abortion and gay marriage in his prayer. I’ve got it cued up to 3:36 where he begins praying against abortion:
