[FOX] Burlington ‐ The federal probe into a 2010 land deal orchestrated by former Burlington College president Jane Sanders, wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is ongoing, a news report suggests.
Sanders was forced out as president of Burlington College the following year, but she has vehemently denied any impropriety in how she conducted the $10 million purchase of a 33-acre lakefront property.
The college borrowed heavily to finance the transaction, which relied on pledged donations and projections of increased enrollment. Several donors have said their pledges were overstated or misrepresented in the loan agreement, and the school was never able to increase its student count as expected.
Burlington College closed in May 2016 with its leadership citing debt from the land deal as the proximate cause.
Fox News reported early Friday that former Burlington College Board Chair Yves Bradley says the federal investigation is ongoing. "He said he was visited by FBI agents in the last six weeks and was questioned about Sanders’ involvement in the alleged bank fraud," according to the report.
Bradley did not return multiple phone calls and messages from VTDigger Friday morning seeking comment. The real estate agent had previously said his only contact with the FBI or the U.S. Attorney for Vermont came through an attorney for the now defunct college and that he had not personally been interviewed in the probe.
[ROLLCALL] The Treasury Department paid $220,000 in a previously undisclosed agreement to settle a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment that involved Florida Democrat Alcee L. Hastings, according to documents obtained by Roll Call.
Winsome Packer, a former staff member of a congressional commission that promotes international human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. , said in documents that the congressman touched her, made unwanted sexual advances, and threatened her job. At the time, Hastings was the chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, where Packer worked.
Hastings has called Packer’s charges "ludicrous" and in documents said he never sexually harassed her.
"Until this evening, I had not seen the settlement agreement between the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe ...also known as Moslem Lebensraum... (CSCE) and Ms. Packer," the congressman said in a statement Friday night. "This matter was handled solely by the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment. At no time was I consulted, nor did I know until after the fact that such a settlement was made."
Hastings said that the lawsuit that Packer filed against him and an investigation by the House Ethics Committee ...think of a nudibranch pretending to be a vertebrate... were ultimately dismissed.
"I am outraged that any taxpayer dollars were needlessly paid to Ms. Packer," he said.
The 2014 payment to settle the case involving Hastings was not apparently included in a breakdown of payouts to settle discrimination complaints against House politicians from the past five years released last month by the Office of Compliance, which approves the payouts. That total included only one payment to resolve a sexual harassment claim ‐ $84,000 paid to settle a complaint against Texas GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11124 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Winsome Packer? "Her name was asking for it"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2017 6:12 Comments ||
Top||
[Michelle Malkin] The most unsurprising brag stretch of the week:
Former President Barack Obama is taking credit for the robust economic growth that is taking place under President Trump.
At a conference of mayors in Chicago, Mr. Obama congratulated himself Tuesday for strong employment numbers in the U.S. this year, saying his climate-change policies have contributed to growth.
"As we took these actions, we saw the U.S. economy grow consistently," Mr. Obama said. "We saw the longest streak of job creation in American history by far, a streak that still continues by the way."
He added wryly, "Thanks, Obama."
Hey, if the economy was doing lousy Obama would have certainly stepped up and taken responsibility, right? RIGHT!?
#1
Poor, helpless bugger. He doesn't even know when to leave well enough alone. If he could simply remain silent, he might recover at least some respect due to his status as a former president, but Nooooo.
#2
Man leaning against a lamppost. Stranger asks - "what are you doing?". The leaner says "keeping the elephants away". Stranger says - "Other than zoos, there are no elephants for thousands of miles". Leaner says - "see what a good job I'm doing". It's an old vaudeville routine. Still is and only getting older.
#3
When his right, he's right. If he didn't disgust people so much they'd elected a conventional Republican instead of Trump, and then where would the economic recovery be?
#10
This seems to be a common personality trait among those self obsessed. Ginsburg would be another but many come to mind as I type these lines. Now in history past similar behavior can be seen. Closed off from reality. They are like old reruns playing over and over. O wants to recapture his glory days and I maintain he will go for the cocaine to feel the power again even if it is in his own mind. Perhaps Gore is fueled by his global warming efforts. In that he can believe he is the true leader.
h/t Instapundit
[LATimes] Amid the talk of draining swamps, restoring political might to blue-collar America and turning off the spigot of taxpayer cash that showers Washington, a familiar battle cry is ricocheting through this city: Move the bureaucrats out.
It has the ring of a Trumpian fantasy. Dislodge arms of the federal government from Washington and reattach them in faraway places, spreading the wealth generated by these well-paid agency workforces and forcing senior bureaucrats to face the people they affect.
But the idea has established populist roots that spread across party lines, and they are reemerging at this unique political moment.
The swaggering Interior secretary from Montana is putting the finishing touches on his plan to move the headquarters of three large public lands agencies to the West. The Stanford economist representing Silicon Valley in Congress sees opportunity to strategically seed regions of the country with pieces of the federal bureaucracy that can benefit them ‐ and that they can benefit. The unlikely prospect of locating the Department of Transportation in Los Angeles is dangled by Republicans eager to show this crusade has bipartisan cred.
I have been saying for years that there is no reason to have all of the government in Washington anymore, and it's good to see that the idea might be gaining traction. Make the government live with the people they work for - disrupt and fracture the bureacracy, and then do the same for Congress.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/10/2017 6:50 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The swaggering Interior secretary from Montana
LA Times bias on prominent display. A losing media
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2017 7:01 Comments ||
Top||
#5
When you finally do move them out, also put a ceiling on their travel budget.
#8
...but only after the EPA finishes with removing the yuge amount of granite from the old sites.
[Granite is a natural source of radiation, like most natural stones. However, some granites have been reported to have higher radioactivity, thereby raising some concerns about their safety.]
#9
Plenty of cheap land in North Dakota, and locals have a good worth ethnic. The severe winter weather will tend to keep riff-raff out of government, an added bonus.
#10
First, abolish a number of agencies (such as education, EPA, and FDA); second, severely trim the remaining ones. Then there won't be enough left that we care about moving their offices around.
Posted by: Si vis pacem ||
12/10/2017 10:39 Comments ||
Top||
#11
If you think about it, with today's technology of teleconferencing and advanced telephones, there is no real reason to even have Congress meet in one place. Everyone could meet via teleconference while staying in their home state/district. This would have the advantage of making the representatives more accessible to their constituents. In addition, a single nuke would not wipe out the entire government.
The main disadvantage would be that the lobbyists would have to set up 535 separate offices in order to bribe visit the congress critters.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/10/2017 11:01 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Personally I think the US capital itself should move every 10-20 years to some randomly selected city with >50K and <500K people.
Expensive? Yes but worth it.
Disruptive? Well that’s the point!
Plus watching those fat rats move to bumsuck Alabama, along with their mistresses and such would provide loads of entertainment.
#13
Why pollute decent country like Indiana or North Dakota when the People's Republic of Maryland is right there? Move to MD, they can have all the socialism they want and vote themselves more. Make Baltimore into DC jr. The normal population can put a fence around it and observe them like zoo animals.
#18
Are you in favor of consolidated corruption or distrbuted corruption in the country? There might be some merit to distributed government offices if government could be pared down in the process.
#19
Corruption will always be there. Distributing the FedGov simply makes it harder for the corruption to cooperate and correlate with each other and the legislative & judicial branches.
Be sure to have a thorough audit of each and every office moved out, giving anyone that does not wish to make the move an opportunity to resign or retire with not charges against them in any ensuing audit.
Rats will jump ship in a hurry. Gives the agency a fresh start.
Limit I would place: State Capitols do not get any fed gov sent their way. Neither do large urban metropolis type cities - say, top 25 largest metro areas.
This excludes:
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
3 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
5 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
6 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area
7 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metropolitan Statistical Area
8 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
9 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
10 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area
11 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
12 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area
13 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
14 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
15 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area
16 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
17 San Diego-Carlsbad, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
18 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
19 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area
20 St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area
21 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area
22 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area
23 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
24 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
25 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Remaining areas with > 1,000,000 in the area
26 Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
27 Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
28 Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area
29 Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area
30 Kansas City, MO-KS Metropolitan Statistical Area
31 Austin-Round Rock, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
32 Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area
33 Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area
34 Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area
35 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
36 Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area
37 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area
38 Providence-Warwick, RI-MA Metropolitan Statistical Area
39 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
40 Jacksonville, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
41 Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area
42 Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metropolitan Statistical Area
43 Raleigh, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area
44 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area
45 Richmond, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area
46 New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area
47 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area
48 Salt Lake City, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area
49 Birmingham-Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area
50 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area
51 Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area
52 Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
53 Tucson, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area
[RADIOSHABELLE] A member of the US Congress has urged the Defence Department to launch a new investigation into reports of a civilian massacre carried out in Somalia by US Special Forces.
Congressman Ted Lieu pressed a senior Defence Department official to review recent media reports that the US troops had rubbed out 10 unarmed Somalis on a farm in the town of Bariire in August.
David Trachtenberg, acting under-secretary of defence for policy, responded that he would relay to his department the congressman’s call for a new investigation.
Civilian Casualties
Mr Trachtenberg also pointed out that the US Africa Command (Africom) had already investigated the operation and found that "the only casualties suffered were of armed combatants who fired on US Special Forces."
"We in the Department of Defence take any accusation of civilian casualties very seriously and we work to avoid them at all cost," Mr Trachtenberg said.
The exchange took place at a House of Representatives hearing in Washington on US "Counterterrorism Efforts in Africa."
Congressman Lieu, a Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, Democrat, had called attention to a pair of news stories reporting that the Special Forces’ ground attack in Bariire was based on intelligence from local rivals of those killed on the farm.
The US raid, carried out in conjunction with Somali government troops, was also reportedly conducted against the advice of Ugandan Brig Gen Kayanja Muhanga, the commander of the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... military contingent in that region of Somalia.
In stories published on November 29 and December 6, news hound Christina Goldbaum relied on the accounts of several unnamed Somali National Army members and local clan elders. The reports appeared in the Daily Beast, a New York-based online news publication.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2017 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)
#1
...For a second there I was concerned until I saw who was making the charges. Lieu makes Hillary look like Curtis LeMay.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/10/2017 6:52 Comments ||
Top||
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.
[FOX] Burlington ‐ The federal probe into a 2010 land deal orchestrated by former Burlington College president Jane Sanders, wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is ongoing, a news report suggests.
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
[Michelle Malkin] The most unsurprising brag stretch of the week:
[THEHILL] Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) blasted President Trump’s Friday rally in Pensacola, Fla., in a tweet Saturday, labeling it a “hatefest.”
