Re: THE INMATES ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:52 pm
link du jour
http://www.eightmartinis.com
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... -extremism
http://zoocain.com/art.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... ation-ties
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... n-american
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ing-treaty
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... anka-coast
http://www.commdiginews.com/politics-2/ ... tus-91264/
CIA whistleblower: Mueller’s FBI computers spied on Trump and SCOTUS
The FBI's James Mueller, now special prosecutor for Russia-Trump, helped expand the NSA's program of domestic surveillance. He and James Comey oversaw the program that spied on Donald Trump. So why is Mueller leading the investigation?
Jul 13, 2017
WASHINGTON, July 13, 2017 — Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, currently Special Counsel in the Russia investigation, provided FBI computers to a secret CIA/NSA surveillance program that was launched in 2004. That program morphed into a domestic surveillance program that spied on Donald Trump and his associates.
This is according to former CIA/NSA/DIA subcontractor-turned-whistleblower Dennis Montgomery and his attorney Larry Klayman.
According to Montgomery:
“This is very, very, very powerful technology, and it was created under Robert Mueller’s watch. The last person I would think that should be investigating Donald Trump is Robert Mueller, who was collecting information on Donald Trump ten years ago … Mueller has a huge conflict of interest, a huge conflict of interest.”
Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, did not mince words when explaining the dangerous high-stakes maneuvering around Montgomery’s case:
“These are vicious people. These people are capable of killing people to keep this thing secret. That’s why, Congress I believe, doesn’t want to look into this. They are afraid of them too. They are more powerful than the President of the United States … This government knows no bounds.”
Special Counsel Mueller’s alleged involvement in a secret surveillance program said to have targeted Trump came to light during the July 8, 2017 broadcast of the radio program “Special Prosecutor with Larry Klayman.”
According to former billionaire Tim Blixseth, whose ex-wife was Montgomery’s business partner, the CIA decided in 2009 to expand the surveillance program by dedicating $5 million in additional computer hardware.
According to Blixseth, the new equipment gave the surveillance program the far greater technical power needed for hacking into secure networks and devices.
image: http://commdiginews.wpengine.netdna-cdn ... 54x170.png
Dennis Montgomery (Image: GoFundMe.com)
On Klayman’s radio show, Montgomery discussed his claim that under Mueller, the FBI provided computers used to spy on Trump and other Americans.
Montgomery added journalists and reporters to the list of individuals and groups that he has identified as alleged surveillance targets. He also added embattled Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Montgomery had previously indicated that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and 156 judges were also surveillance targets.
Bundy, who is currently incarcerated while awaiting trial, has been under surveillance since 2003, claims Montgomery.
Read more at http://www.commdiginews.com/politics-2/ ... jpirVKR.99
https://coloradobob1.newsvine.com
Colorado Bob
ABOUT
Student of the Natural Sciences and Human Folly
http://www.enr.com/articles/42360-senat ... hq-project
Democrats lead charge to build new FBI building
Senate Panel to Look Into Decision to Kill FBI HQ Project
Plan includes new suburban D.C. FBI building, redeveloping downtown site
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... -fbi-file/
The FBI considered charging the American Indian Movement’s John Trudell with “Insurrection”
by Curtis Waltman
July 13, 2017
To mark the 49th anniversary this week of the founding of the American Indian Movement (AIM), we’re taking a look at the FBI files of John Trudell, esteemed Santee Dakota poet, writer, speaker, and musician who was a key member of AIM, rising to the rank of National Chairman by the mid seventies. To the Bureau, Trudell was a renowned “agitator,” but within his community he was a motivator who inspired Indigenous peoples across the nation to strive for a better life.
Read More
http://fox8.com/2017/07/13/cleveland-di ... al-agents/
Cleveland Division of FBI recruiting new special agents
fox8.com-
“We are doing a big recruit push for special agents,” said FBI Special Agent Vicki ... On Monday, the Cleveland Division of the FBI is having a recruiting event ...
http://www.metro.us/news/politics/jeff- ... s-day-late
DOJ provides court-ordered disclosure on Jeff Sessions' Russia contacts a day late
Form proves Sessions lied about meetings with Russian officials.
Published : July 13, 2017
The Justice Department has reportedly missed a court-ordered deadline to release parts of Jeff Sessions’ form to obtain security clearances dealing with contacts with Russian officials.
In response to a lawsuit by a Washington-based watchdog group, a federal judge said on June 12 the department had to provide the information within 30 days. That deadline passed on Wednesday.
Jeff Sessions’ disclosure form detailing the attorney general’s contacts with foreign governments was submitted Thursday morning, NPR reported.
In the filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department released the part of Sessions’ security clearance form that asks, “Have you or any of your immediate family in the past seven (7) years [bold font in original] had any contact with a foreign government, its establishment (such as embassy, consulate, agency, military service, intelligence or security service, etc.) or its representatives, whether inside or outside the U.S.?"
Sessions answered, “No.”
The form confirms what the public already knows: Sessions did not disclose meetings he had last year with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearances.
Jeff Sessions met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at least two times last year. He did not note those meetings on his form or in his Senate confirmation hearing.
The ethics watchdog group, American Oversight, filed a Freedom of Information Act request into Session’s Russian contacts in March. The organization filed suit against the government a month later when it wasn’t provided the documents, The Hill reported.
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... -rape-kit/
Great sexual assault evidence collection policies exist, but continue to be the exception to the rule
by Vanessa Nason
July 12, 2017
The best sexual assault policies adopted by this country’s law enforcement agencies illustrate a careful balancing act - Gardner, Massachusetts, with its victim-focused approach, a team of officers trained in handling sexual assault, and clear evidence collection policies, stands out. But until every police department in the country has these, the national backlog will continue to exist.
Read More
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... -1.3324078
Former President Jimmy Carter hospitalized for dehydration in Canada during Habitat for Humanity trip
BY TERENCE CULLEN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Thursday, July 13, 2017, 2:01 PM
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/n ... 475276001/
Judge orders documents sealed in case against FBI agent in Malheur
Statesman Journal-
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge says government documents from a case against an FBI agent will remain sealed to protect the identities of other law ...
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/n ... -1.3323196
North Carolina officer charged for killing pedestrian he struck while driving 100 mph
BY TERENCE CULLEN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, July 13, 2017, 8:42 AM
https://www.muckrock.com
CIA’s 60 year war with the Government Accountability Office: The ‘70s Part 2
by Emma Best
July 13, 2017
In an April 1975 letter for CIA Director William Colby, the Agency’s Assistant Legislative Counsel laid out the arguments the Agency intended to make against a bill requiring they allow the Government Accountability Office access to CIA records. In an accompanying cover letter, the Agency lawyer drafting the letter noted they “really slung the B.S.,” and asked for Colby’s help in determining if they had overplayed the CIA’s position a bit.
Read More
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... rs-tracker
98 environmental
defenders have been killed so far in 2017
while protecting their community’s land or natural resources
https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/ ... -syndicate
Trump’s Russian Laundromat
How to use Trump Tower and other luxury high-rises to clean dirty money, run an international crime syndicate, and propel a failed real estate developer into the White House.
BY CRAIG UNGER
July 13, 2017
Trump’s Russian Laundromat
In 1984, a Russian émigré named David Bogatin went shopping for apartments in New York City. The 38-year-old had arrived in America seven years before, with just $3 in his pocket. But for a former pilot in the Soviet Army—his specialty had been shooting down Americans over North Vietnam—he had clearly done quite well for himself. Bogatin wasn’t hunting for a place in Brighton Beach, the Brooklyn enclave known as “Little Odessa” for its large population of immigrants from the Soviet Union. Instead, he was fixated on the glitziest apartment building on Fifth Avenue, a gaudy, 58-story edifice with gold-plated fixtures and a pink-marble atrium: Trump Tower.
A monument to celebrity and conspicuous consumption, the tower was home to the likes of Johnny Carson, Steven Spielberg, and Sophia Loren. Its brash, 38-year-old developer was something of a tabloid celebrity himself. Donald Trump was just coming into his own as a serious player in Manhattan real estate, and Trump Tower was the crown jewel of his growing empire. From the day it opened, the building was a hit—all but a few dozen of its 263 units had sold in the first few months. But Bogatin wasn’t deterred by the limited availability or the sky-high prices. The Russian plunked down $6 million to buy not one or two, but five luxury condos. The big check apparently caught the attention of the owner. According to Wayne Barrett, who investigated the deal for the Village Voice, Trump personally attended the closing, along with Bogatin.
If the transaction seemed suspicious—multiple apartments for a single buyer who appeared to have no legitimate way to put his hands on that much money—there may have been a reason. At the time, Russian mobsters were beginning to invest in high-end real estate, which offered an ideal vehicle to launder money from their criminal enterprises. “During the ’80s and ’90s, we in the U.S. government repeatedly saw a pattern by which criminals would use condos and high-rises to launder money,” says Jonathan Winer, a deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement in the Clinton administration. “It didn’t matter that you paid too much, because the real estate values would rise, and it was a way of turning dirty money into clean money. It was done very systematically, and it explained why there are so many high-rises where the units were sold but no one is living in them.” When Trump Tower was built, as David Cay Johnston reports in The Making of Donald Trump, it was only the second high-rise in New York that accepted anonymous buyers.
In 1987, just three years after he attended the closing with Trump, Bogatin pleaded guilty to taking part in a massive gasoline-bootlegging scheme with Russian mobsters. After he fled the country, the government seized his five condos at Trump Tower, saying that he had purchased them to “launder money, to shelter and hide assets.” A Senate investigation into organized crime later revealed that Bogatin was a leading figure in the Russian mob in New York. His family ties, in fact, led straight to the top: His brother ran a $150 million stock scam with none other than Semion Mogilevich, whom the FBI considers the “boss of bosses” of the Russian mafia. At the time, Mogilevich—feared even by his fellow gangsters as “the most powerful mobster in the world”—was expanding his multibillion-dollar international criminal syndicate into America.
In 1987, on his first trip to Russia, Trump visited the Winter Palace with Ivana. The Soviets flew him to Moscow—all expenses paid—to discuss building a luxury hotel across from the Kremlin.Maxim Blokhin/TASS
Since Trump’s election as president, his ties to Russia have become the focus of intense scrutiny, most of which has centered on whether his inner circle colluded with Russia to subvert the U.S. election. A growing chorus in Congress is also asking pointed questions about how the president built his business empire. Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has called for a deeper inquiry into “Russian investment in Trump’s businesses and properties.”
The very nature of Trump’s businesses—all of which are privately held, with few reporting requirements—makes it difficult to root out the truth about his financial deals. And the world of Russian oligarchs and organized crime, by design, is shadowy and labyrinthine. For the past three decades, state and federal investigators, as well as some of America’s best investigative journalists, have sifted through mountains of real estate records, tax filings, civil lawsuits, criminal cases, and FBI and Interpol reports, unearthing ties between Trump and Russian mobsters like Mogilevich. To date, no one has documented that Trump was even aware of any suspicious entanglements in his far-flung businesses, let alone that he was directly compromised by the Russian mafia or the corrupt oligarchs who are closely allied with the Kremlin. So far, when it comes to Trump’s ties to Russia, there is no smoking gun.
But even without an investigation by Congress or a special prosecutor, there is much we already know about the president’s debt to Russia. A review of the public record reveals a clear and disturbing pattern: Trump owes much of his business success, and by extension his presidency, to a flow of highly suspicious money from Russia. Over the past three decades, at least 13 people with known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in, and even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties. Many used his apartments and casinos to launder untold millions in dirty money. Some ran a worldwide high-stakes gambling ring out of Trump Tower—in a unit directly below one owned by Trump. Others provided Trump with lucrative branding deals that required no investment on his part. Taken together, the flow of money from Russia provided Trump with a crucial infusion of financing that helped rescue his empire from ruin, burnish his image, and launch his career in television and politics. “They saved his bacon,” says Kenneth McCallion, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Reagan administration who investigated ties between organized crime and Trump’s developments in the 1980s.
It’s entirely possible that Trump was never more than a convenient patsy for Russian oligarchs and mobsters, with his casinos and condos providing easy pass-throughs for their illicit riches. At the very least, with his constant need for new infusions of cash and his well-documented troubles with creditors, Trump made an easy “mark” for anyone looking to launder money. But whatever his knowledge about the source of his wealth, the public record makes clear that Trump built his business empire in no small part with a lot of dirty money from a lot of dirty Russians—including the dirtiest and most feared of them all.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... l-outreach
Evangelicals scratch Donald Trump's back – and he's returning the favor
Daniel José Camacho
FBI Octopus
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/us/p ... trump.html
Job One at Homeland Security Under Trump: Immigration
New York Times-
... the rise, said Erroll Southers, a former F.B.I. agent who is the director of a program at the University of Southern California that studies homegrown extremism.
http://wjla.com/news/nation-world/unfai ... xperts-say
Unfair to judge officers' actions in hindsight, experts say | WJLA
WJLA › news › nation-world › unfair-to...
Sep 22, 2016 - ... based on only their judgment and training,” said Tyrone Powers, director of the Homeland Security and Criminal Justice Institute at Anne Arundel Community College and a former FBI special agent.
http://www.hgazette.com/news/local_news ... 5bc80.html
Haverhill Mass
Middle East discussion: The Council on Aging is hosting a discussion group on terrorism in the Middle East.
Jay White, a retired FBI agent and a former member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, lead the discussion. White is an adjunct faculty member at several area colleges.
The group meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 10 a.m. at the Citizens Center, 10 Welcome St. Call 978-374-2390 if you wish to participate.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_pol ... orm_is_out
Blacked out page of Sessions security clearance form is out
Boston Herald-
A department spokesman says the FBI agent who helped with the form said those encounters didn't have to be included as routine contacts as part of Sessions' ...
https://www.abqjournal.com/1032279/five ... sting.html
Five pounds of meth lost in ‘reverse sting’ in Albuquerque
By Mike Gallagher / Journal Investigative Reporter
Thursday, July 13th, 2017 at 12:02am
FBI agents lost 5 pounds of methamphetamine last month during a “reverse sting” in a parking lot on Coors near I-40.
The incident also sent a member of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force to a hospital after he was struck by the suspects’ car in the Home Depot parking lot.
Agents fired their weapons at the suspects but didn’t hit anyone.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/1 ... ote-240533
Democrats signal support for quick vote on FBI nominee Wray
By SEUNG MIN KIM 07/13/2017
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170 ... ture.shtml
Too Much Free Time
Thu, Jul 13th 2017
Desk Jockeying: FBI Puts Out The Call For 'Cyber Security Furniture'
from the bringing-the-war-to-work dept
If you're going to fight in the Cyber Front, you're going to want the most up-to-date office chairs. Here's an unlikely use of federal tax dollars, as spotted by the EFF's Dave Maass: "FBI Cyber Security Furniture."
Disappointingly, the FBI isn't actually looking for something along the lines of Matrix dental exam chairs for office drones to monitor... uh... multiple monitors during crucial cyber operations. Instead, the FBI is looking for standard office furniture to furnish its new Colorado cyber security office.
But the scope of work doc [PDF] indicates not just any office furniture will do. On the FBI's Cyber Titanic, reshuffle-ability of deck chairs is crucial.
The furniture solution for the workspace (individual and team) is expected to be adjustable, adaptable and easily interchangeable into different configurations as required by the work force.
Technology will be integrated at all levels of the project. Furniture must be adaptable to the continuously changing technology solutions required to maintain a collaborative, mobile, and sustainable work environment.
In total, the FBI is looking for 24 workstations, 30 office chairs, and an out-of-the-box "STEELCASE Private Office" [pictured below].
THE PRIVACY VIOLATIONS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE OFFICE!
If any vendors carry something more cybertastic than what's described in the request, they are cordially disinvited from responding. The FBI is going sole-source and pouring federal dollars back into the local economy.
The General Services Administration has a new requirement that it intends to sole source for New Steelcase and Mayline Office Furniture from Officescapes, LLC a local dealer in Colorado.
The sole-source provider won't have it easy, though. The demands for bog standard office furniture are far more rigorous than most demands for off-the-shelf solutions. It needs to do far more than prevent FBI cyber warriors from having to perform their duties sitting on the carpet. The new furniture must also work as a "quality of life patch" for the field office. Here's part of a long list of things purchased furniture is expected to do:
Improv[e] work/life balance
Attract and retain the best talent
Hopefully no employees signed with the new Cyber Security office in hopes of being part of the office of the future. Team Cyber (Denver, CO) will be doing its work in the more familiar "office of the present," with all of its boring chairs, workstations, and conspicuous lack of monitor-covered walls.
Moving Beyond Backdoors To Solve The FBI's 'Going Dark' Problem
There Is No 'Going Dark' Problem
EFF Sues FBI Over Withheld NSL Guideline Documents
Trump Lawyer Threatens To Report A Former FBI Employee To The Inspector General
13 Jul 2017 @ 2:41pm
The FBI Wants Backdoors, Except When They Don't
From the STEELCASE Private Office website:
A traditional advantage of the private office is the ability to concentrate and protect confidential information. Yet this security and control is compromised if workers are approached from behind by guests entering the office.
So the FBI doesn't want any information getting out via backdoors. Hmm.
http://markets.businessinsider.com/news ... 1002167313
Hugh M. Hefner Foundation Announces First Amendment Award Winners for 2017
Jul. 12, 2017, 09:00 AM
LOS ANGELES, CA--July 12, 2017) - The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation is pleased to announce its 2017 First Amendment Award winners to those who have dedicated their profession, and some their lives, to upholding and exercising their First Amendment rights.
Christie Hefner established the Awards in 1979, in conjunction with Playboy Magazine's 25th anniversary, to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for all Americans. A press reception with the winners and judges will be held on August 7, 2017 at the Playboy Mansion.
This year's Lifetime Achievement Award will be bestowed upon Burt Neuborne, the Norman Dorsen Professor of Civil Liberties at NYU Law School, who for 45 years has been one of the nation's foremost civil liberties lawyers. He receives a Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award for his unwavering defense of civil liberties and civil rights and who, as founding legal director for The Brennan Center for Justice, had the vision and foresight to spearhead its establishment.
Highlights of Professor Neuborne's career include serving as National Legal Director of the ACLU from 1981-1986, Special Counsel to the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund from 1990-1996, and as a member of the New York City Human Rights Commission from 1988-1992. He has argued numerous Supreme Court cases and has litigated hundreds of important constitutional cases in the state and federal courts. From 1995 to 2007, he directed the legal program of the Brennan Center, focusing on efforts to reinforce American democracy and secure campaign finance reform. The Brennan Center was established in 1994 to honor Justice William Brennan, Jr.'s monumental contribution to American Law.
"For decades, the First Amendment Awards have honored and celebrated distinguished individuals whose actions support and often fight to preserve the values of the First Amendment," says Christie Hefner, Chairman of the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards. "Especially now, it feels like the First Amendment is under assault, so it is more important than ever that we recognize those who fight to preserve this precious right."
http://www.eightmartinis.com
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... -extremism
http://zoocain.com/art.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... ation-ties
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... n-american
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ing-treaty
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... anka-coast
http://www.commdiginews.com/politics-2/ ... tus-91264/
CIA whistleblower: Mueller’s FBI computers spied on Trump and SCOTUS
The FBI's James Mueller, now special prosecutor for Russia-Trump, helped expand the NSA's program of domestic surveillance. He and James Comey oversaw the program that spied on Donald Trump. So why is Mueller leading the investigation?
Jul 13, 2017
WASHINGTON, July 13, 2017 — Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, currently Special Counsel in the Russia investigation, provided FBI computers to a secret CIA/NSA surveillance program that was launched in 2004. That program morphed into a domestic surveillance program that spied on Donald Trump and his associates.
This is according to former CIA/NSA/DIA subcontractor-turned-whistleblower Dennis Montgomery and his attorney Larry Klayman.
According to Montgomery:
“This is very, very, very powerful technology, and it was created under Robert Mueller’s watch. The last person I would think that should be investigating Donald Trump is Robert Mueller, who was collecting information on Donald Trump ten years ago … Mueller has a huge conflict of interest, a huge conflict of interest.”
Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, did not mince words when explaining the dangerous high-stakes maneuvering around Montgomery’s case:
“These are vicious people. These people are capable of killing people to keep this thing secret. That’s why, Congress I believe, doesn’t want to look into this. They are afraid of them too. They are more powerful than the President of the United States … This government knows no bounds.”
Special Counsel Mueller’s alleged involvement in a secret surveillance program said to have targeted Trump came to light during the July 8, 2017 broadcast of the radio program “Special Prosecutor with Larry Klayman.”
According to former billionaire Tim Blixseth, whose ex-wife was Montgomery’s business partner, the CIA decided in 2009 to expand the surveillance program by dedicating $5 million in additional computer hardware.
According to Blixseth, the new equipment gave the surveillance program the far greater technical power needed for hacking into secure networks and devices.
image: http://commdiginews.wpengine.netdna-cdn ... 54x170.png
Dennis Montgomery (Image: GoFundMe.com)
On Klayman’s radio show, Montgomery discussed his claim that under Mueller, the FBI provided computers used to spy on Trump and other Americans.
Montgomery added journalists and reporters to the list of individuals and groups that he has identified as alleged surveillance targets. He also added embattled Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Montgomery had previously indicated that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and 156 judges were also surveillance targets.
Bundy, who is currently incarcerated while awaiting trial, has been under surveillance since 2003, claims Montgomery.
Read more at http://www.commdiginews.com/politics-2/ ... jpirVKR.99
https://coloradobob1.newsvine.com
Colorado Bob
ABOUT
Student of the Natural Sciences and Human Folly
http://www.enr.com/articles/42360-senat ... hq-project
Democrats lead charge to build new FBI building
Senate Panel to Look Into Decision to Kill FBI HQ Project
Plan includes new suburban D.C. FBI building, redeveloping downtown site
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... -fbi-file/
The FBI considered charging the American Indian Movement’s John Trudell with “Insurrection”
by Curtis Waltman
July 13, 2017
To mark the 49th anniversary this week of the founding of the American Indian Movement (AIM), we’re taking a look at the FBI files of John Trudell, esteemed Santee Dakota poet, writer, speaker, and musician who was a key member of AIM, rising to the rank of National Chairman by the mid seventies. To the Bureau, Trudell was a renowned “agitator,” but within his community he was a motivator who inspired Indigenous peoples across the nation to strive for a better life.
Read More
http://fox8.com/2017/07/13/cleveland-di ... al-agents/
Cleveland Division of FBI recruiting new special agents
fox8.com-
“We are doing a big recruit push for special agents,” said FBI Special Agent Vicki ... On Monday, the Cleveland Division of the FBI is having a recruiting event ...
http://www.metro.us/news/politics/jeff- ... s-day-late
DOJ provides court-ordered disclosure on Jeff Sessions' Russia contacts a day late
Form proves Sessions lied about meetings with Russian officials.
Published : July 13, 2017
The Justice Department has reportedly missed a court-ordered deadline to release parts of Jeff Sessions’ form to obtain security clearances dealing with contacts with Russian officials.
In response to a lawsuit by a Washington-based watchdog group, a federal judge said on June 12 the department had to provide the information within 30 days. That deadline passed on Wednesday.
Jeff Sessions’ disclosure form detailing the attorney general’s contacts with foreign governments was submitted Thursday morning, NPR reported.
In the filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department released the part of Sessions’ security clearance form that asks, “Have you or any of your immediate family in the past seven (7) years [bold font in original] had any contact with a foreign government, its establishment (such as embassy, consulate, agency, military service, intelligence or security service, etc.) or its representatives, whether inside or outside the U.S.?"
Sessions answered, “No.”
The form confirms what the public already knows: Sessions did not disclose meetings he had last year with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearances.
Jeff Sessions met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at least two times last year. He did not note those meetings on his form or in his Senate confirmation hearing.
The ethics watchdog group, American Oversight, filed a Freedom of Information Act request into Session’s Russian contacts in March. The organization filed suit against the government a month later when it wasn’t provided the documents, The Hill reported.
https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/ ... -rape-kit/
Great sexual assault evidence collection policies exist, but continue to be the exception to the rule
by Vanessa Nason
July 12, 2017
The best sexual assault policies adopted by this country’s law enforcement agencies illustrate a careful balancing act - Gardner, Massachusetts, with its victim-focused approach, a team of officers trained in handling sexual assault, and clear evidence collection policies, stands out. But until every police department in the country has these, the national backlog will continue to exist.
Read More
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politic ... -1.3324078
Former President Jimmy Carter hospitalized for dehydration in Canada during Habitat for Humanity trip
BY TERENCE CULLEN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Thursday, July 13, 2017, 2:01 PM
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/n ... 475276001/
Judge orders documents sealed in case against FBI agent in Malheur
Statesman Journal-
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge says government documents from a case against an FBI agent will remain sealed to protect the identities of other law ...
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/n ... -1.3323196
North Carolina officer charged for killing pedestrian he struck while driving 100 mph
BY TERENCE CULLEN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, July 13, 2017, 8:42 AM
https://www.muckrock.com
CIA’s 60 year war with the Government Accountability Office: The ‘70s Part 2
by Emma Best
July 13, 2017
In an April 1975 letter for CIA Director William Colby, the Agency’s Assistant Legislative Counsel laid out the arguments the Agency intended to make against a bill requiring they allow the Government Accountability Office access to CIA records. In an accompanying cover letter, the Agency lawyer drafting the letter noted they “really slung the B.S.,” and asked for Colby’s help in determining if they had overplayed the CIA’s position a bit.
Read More
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... rs-tracker
98 environmental
defenders have been killed so far in 2017
while protecting their community’s land or natural resources
https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/ ... -syndicate
Trump’s Russian Laundromat
How to use Trump Tower and other luxury high-rises to clean dirty money, run an international crime syndicate, and propel a failed real estate developer into the White House.
BY CRAIG UNGER
July 13, 2017
Trump’s Russian Laundromat
In 1984, a Russian émigré named David Bogatin went shopping for apartments in New York City. The 38-year-old had arrived in America seven years before, with just $3 in his pocket. But for a former pilot in the Soviet Army—his specialty had been shooting down Americans over North Vietnam—he had clearly done quite well for himself. Bogatin wasn’t hunting for a place in Brighton Beach, the Brooklyn enclave known as “Little Odessa” for its large population of immigrants from the Soviet Union. Instead, he was fixated on the glitziest apartment building on Fifth Avenue, a gaudy, 58-story edifice with gold-plated fixtures and a pink-marble atrium: Trump Tower.
A monument to celebrity and conspicuous consumption, the tower was home to the likes of Johnny Carson, Steven Spielberg, and Sophia Loren. Its brash, 38-year-old developer was something of a tabloid celebrity himself. Donald Trump was just coming into his own as a serious player in Manhattan real estate, and Trump Tower was the crown jewel of his growing empire. From the day it opened, the building was a hit—all but a few dozen of its 263 units had sold in the first few months. But Bogatin wasn’t deterred by the limited availability or the sky-high prices. The Russian plunked down $6 million to buy not one or two, but five luxury condos. The big check apparently caught the attention of the owner. According to Wayne Barrett, who investigated the deal for the Village Voice, Trump personally attended the closing, along with Bogatin.
If the transaction seemed suspicious—multiple apartments for a single buyer who appeared to have no legitimate way to put his hands on that much money—there may have been a reason. At the time, Russian mobsters were beginning to invest in high-end real estate, which offered an ideal vehicle to launder money from their criminal enterprises. “During the ’80s and ’90s, we in the U.S. government repeatedly saw a pattern by which criminals would use condos and high-rises to launder money,” says Jonathan Winer, a deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement in the Clinton administration. “It didn’t matter that you paid too much, because the real estate values would rise, and it was a way of turning dirty money into clean money. It was done very systematically, and it explained why there are so many high-rises where the units were sold but no one is living in them.” When Trump Tower was built, as David Cay Johnston reports in The Making of Donald Trump, it was only the second high-rise in New York that accepted anonymous buyers.
In 1987, just three years after he attended the closing with Trump, Bogatin pleaded guilty to taking part in a massive gasoline-bootlegging scheme with Russian mobsters. After he fled the country, the government seized his five condos at Trump Tower, saying that he had purchased them to “launder money, to shelter and hide assets.” A Senate investigation into organized crime later revealed that Bogatin was a leading figure in the Russian mob in New York. His family ties, in fact, led straight to the top: His brother ran a $150 million stock scam with none other than Semion Mogilevich, whom the FBI considers the “boss of bosses” of the Russian mafia. At the time, Mogilevich—feared even by his fellow gangsters as “the most powerful mobster in the world”—was expanding his multibillion-dollar international criminal syndicate into America.
In 1987, on his first trip to Russia, Trump visited the Winter Palace with Ivana. The Soviets flew him to Moscow—all expenses paid—to discuss building a luxury hotel across from the Kremlin.Maxim Blokhin/TASS
Since Trump’s election as president, his ties to Russia have become the focus of intense scrutiny, most of which has centered on whether his inner circle colluded with Russia to subvert the U.S. election. A growing chorus in Congress is also asking pointed questions about how the president built his business empire. Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has called for a deeper inquiry into “Russian investment in Trump’s businesses and properties.”
The very nature of Trump’s businesses—all of which are privately held, with few reporting requirements—makes it difficult to root out the truth about his financial deals. And the world of Russian oligarchs and organized crime, by design, is shadowy and labyrinthine. For the past three decades, state and federal investigators, as well as some of America’s best investigative journalists, have sifted through mountains of real estate records, tax filings, civil lawsuits, criminal cases, and FBI and Interpol reports, unearthing ties between Trump and Russian mobsters like Mogilevich. To date, no one has documented that Trump was even aware of any suspicious entanglements in his far-flung businesses, let alone that he was directly compromised by the Russian mafia or the corrupt oligarchs who are closely allied with the Kremlin. So far, when it comes to Trump’s ties to Russia, there is no smoking gun.
But even without an investigation by Congress or a special prosecutor, there is much we already know about the president’s debt to Russia. A review of the public record reveals a clear and disturbing pattern: Trump owes much of his business success, and by extension his presidency, to a flow of highly suspicious money from Russia. Over the past three decades, at least 13 people with known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in, and even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties. Many used his apartments and casinos to launder untold millions in dirty money. Some ran a worldwide high-stakes gambling ring out of Trump Tower—in a unit directly below one owned by Trump. Others provided Trump with lucrative branding deals that required no investment on his part. Taken together, the flow of money from Russia provided Trump with a crucial infusion of financing that helped rescue his empire from ruin, burnish his image, and launch his career in television and politics. “They saved his bacon,” says Kenneth McCallion, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Reagan administration who investigated ties between organized crime and Trump’s developments in the 1980s.
It’s entirely possible that Trump was never more than a convenient patsy for Russian oligarchs and mobsters, with his casinos and condos providing easy pass-throughs for their illicit riches. At the very least, with his constant need for new infusions of cash and his well-documented troubles with creditors, Trump made an easy “mark” for anyone looking to launder money. But whatever his knowledge about the source of his wealth, the public record makes clear that Trump built his business empire in no small part with a lot of dirty money from a lot of dirty Russians—including the dirtiest and most feared of them all.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... l-outreach
Evangelicals scratch Donald Trump's back – and he's returning the favor
Daniel José Camacho
FBI Octopus
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/us/p ... trump.html
Job One at Homeland Security Under Trump: Immigration
New York Times-
... the rise, said Erroll Southers, a former F.B.I. agent who is the director of a program at the University of Southern California that studies homegrown extremism.
http://wjla.com/news/nation-world/unfai ... xperts-say
Unfair to judge officers' actions in hindsight, experts say | WJLA
WJLA › news › nation-world › unfair-to...
Sep 22, 2016 - ... based on only their judgment and training,” said Tyrone Powers, director of the Homeland Security and Criminal Justice Institute at Anne Arundel Community College and a former FBI special agent.
http://www.hgazette.com/news/local_news ... 5bc80.html
Haverhill Mass
Middle East discussion: The Council on Aging is hosting a discussion group on terrorism in the Middle East.
Jay White, a retired FBI agent and a former member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, lead the discussion. White is an adjunct faculty member at several area colleges.
The group meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 10 a.m. at the Citizens Center, 10 Welcome St. Call 978-374-2390 if you wish to participate.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_pol ... orm_is_out
Blacked out page of Sessions security clearance form is out
Boston Herald-
A department spokesman says the FBI agent who helped with the form said those encounters didn't have to be included as routine contacts as part of Sessions' ...
https://www.abqjournal.com/1032279/five ... sting.html
Five pounds of meth lost in ‘reverse sting’ in Albuquerque
By Mike Gallagher / Journal Investigative Reporter
Thursday, July 13th, 2017 at 12:02am
FBI agents lost 5 pounds of methamphetamine last month during a “reverse sting” in a parking lot on Coors near I-40.
The incident also sent a member of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force to a hospital after he was struck by the suspects’ car in the Home Depot parking lot.
Agents fired their weapons at the suspects but didn’t hit anyone.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/1 ... ote-240533
Democrats signal support for quick vote on FBI nominee Wray
By SEUNG MIN KIM 07/13/2017
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170 ... ture.shtml
Too Much Free Time
Thu, Jul 13th 2017
Desk Jockeying: FBI Puts Out The Call For 'Cyber Security Furniture'
from the bringing-the-war-to-work dept
If you're going to fight in the Cyber Front, you're going to want the most up-to-date office chairs. Here's an unlikely use of federal tax dollars, as spotted by the EFF's Dave Maass: "FBI Cyber Security Furniture."
Disappointingly, the FBI isn't actually looking for something along the lines of Matrix dental exam chairs for office drones to monitor... uh... multiple monitors during crucial cyber operations. Instead, the FBI is looking for standard office furniture to furnish its new Colorado cyber security office.
But the scope of work doc [PDF] indicates not just any office furniture will do. On the FBI's Cyber Titanic, reshuffle-ability of deck chairs is crucial.
The furniture solution for the workspace (individual and team) is expected to be adjustable, adaptable and easily interchangeable into different configurations as required by the work force.
Technology will be integrated at all levels of the project. Furniture must be adaptable to the continuously changing technology solutions required to maintain a collaborative, mobile, and sustainable work environment.
In total, the FBI is looking for 24 workstations, 30 office chairs, and an out-of-the-box "STEELCASE Private Office" [pictured below].
THE PRIVACY VIOLATIONS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE OFFICE!
If any vendors carry something more cybertastic than what's described in the request, they are cordially disinvited from responding. The FBI is going sole-source and pouring federal dollars back into the local economy.
The General Services Administration has a new requirement that it intends to sole source for New Steelcase and Mayline Office Furniture from Officescapes, LLC a local dealer in Colorado.
The sole-source provider won't have it easy, though. The demands for bog standard office furniture are far more rigorous than most demands for off-the-shelf solutions. It needs to do far more than prevent FBI cyber warriors from having to perform their duties sitting on the carpet. The new furniture must also work as a "quality of life patch" for the field office. Here's part of a long list of things purchased furniture is expected to do:
Improv[e] work/life balance
Attract and retain the best talent
Hopefully no employees signed with the new Cyber Security office in hopes of being part of the office of the future. Team Cyber (Denver, CO) will be doing its work in the more familiar "office of the present," with all of its boring chairs, workstations, and conspicuous lack of monitor-covered walls.
Moving Beyond Backdoors To Solve The FBI's 'Going Dark' Problem
There Is No 'Going Dark' Problem
EFF Sues FBI Over Withheld NSL Guideline Documents
Trump Lawyer Threatens To Report A Former FBI Employee To The Inspector General
13 Jul 2017 @ 2:41pm
The FBI Wants Backdoors, Except When They Don't
From the STEELCASE Private Office website:
A traditional advantage of the private office is the ability to concentrate and protect confidential information. Yet this security and control is compromised if workers are approached from behind by guests entering the office.
So the FBI doesn't want any information getting out via backdoors. Hmm.
http://markets.businessinsider.com/news ... 1002167313
Hugh M. Hefner Foundation Announces First Amendment Award Winners for 2017
Jul. 12, 2017, 09:00 AM
LOS ANGELES, CA--July 12, 2017) - The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation is pleased to announce its 2017 First Amendment Award winners to those who have dedicated their profession, and some their lives, to upholding and exercising their First Amendment rights.
Christie Hefner established the Awards in 1979, in conjunction with Playboy Magazine's 25th anniversary, to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for all Americans. A press reception with the winners and judges will be held on August 7, 2017 at the Playboy Mansion.
This year's Lifetime Achievement Award will be bestowed upon Burt Neuborne, the Norman Dorsen Professor of Civil Liberties at NYU Law School, who for 45 years has been one of the nation's foremost civil liberties lawyers. He receives a Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award for his unwavering defense of civil liberties and civil rights and who, as founding legal director for The Brennan Center for Justice, had the vision and foresight to spearhead its establishment.
Highlights of Professor Neuborne's career include serving as National Legal Director of the ACLU from 1981-1986, Special Counsel to the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund from 1990-1996, and as a member of the New York City Human Rights Commission from 1988-1992. He has argued numerous Supreme Court cases and has litigated hundreds of important constitutional cases in the state and federal courts. From 1995 to 2007, he directed the legal program of the Brennan Center, focusing on efforts to reinforce American democracy and secure campaign finance reform. The Brennan Center was established in 1994 to honor Justice William Brennan, Jr.'s monumental contribution to American Law.
"For decades, the First Amendment Awards have honored and celebrated distinguished individuals whose actions support and often fight to preserve the values of the First Amendment," says Christie Hefner, Chairman of the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards. "Especially now, it feels like the First Amendment is under assault, so it is more important than ever that we recognize those who fight to preserve this precious right."