Fwd: News of the Force: Saturday, September 3, 2016 - Page 2

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News of the Force: Saturday, September 3, 2016 - Page 2

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The Hillary Chronicles

    

    Hillary Clinton told the FBI she didn't “recall” 39 times according to the investigation report about her e-mail server practices released yesterday. According to CNN correspondent Evan Perez, the response generally came to questions about “whether or not she was aware of the propriety of using her unclassified system to discuss some of these issues” and whether she'd gotten security training to use such a system to discuss sensitive programs. He recounted one “remarkable” example, where Clinton and other State Department officials were in discussion about a drone strike in 2011, and Clinton professed ignorance about how to talk about the topic over a Christmas holiday. “What’s remarkable is the secretary of state says that she wasn’t aware of what the rules are for handling this type of stuff over Christmas holidays, because, as you know, over the holidays people are traveling, they don’t have access to their classified SCIFS, their secure systems to communicate, and she said she didn't really know, there was no protocols for dealing with that,” he said. “That’s kind of shocking, frankly, that you don’t know that you can’t talk about something so sensitive as a drone program.” So, if she is ACTUALLY suffering effects of a brain injury from four years ago, should loyal Americans really want to put her in the 24/7 pressure-cooker job of POTUS? OTOH, if she is lying about "I don't recall" (the same way she lied about never sending or receiving classified information and having ONE communications device) should loyal Americans really want to put her in the integrity-demanding job of POTUS? [Editorial note by Doug Abruzzo: Other reports state that Hillary "explained" her selectively poor memory on a concussion she suffered during a fall in 2012 (just before she was scheduled to testify before a congressional committee investigating the Benghazi attack.]

    The FBI yesterday publicly released files from its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server, including a summary of the bureau’s interview with Clinton in July. The documents undermine Clinton’s claims that she used her personal e-mail for official business out of the convenience of carrying only one device. According to the documents, the FBI identified 13 different mobile devices associated with Clinton’s two known phone numbers that could have been used to send or receive e-mails on her personal system. Investigators found that Clinton used 11 different BlackBerry devices “in succession,” eight of them during her tenure at the State Department. While the Justice Department asked Clinton’s attorneys at Williams & Connolly to turn over the 13 devices, the lawyers said in February that “they were unable to locate any of these devices,” according to the documents. “As a result, the FBI was unable to acquire or forensically examine any of these 13 mobile devices,” the documents state. Additionally, investigators also identified five iPads associated with Clinton that could have been used to send e-mails from her personal system. The FBI obtained three of the devices, one of which had e-mails from Clinton’s personal server that did not contain classified information. When news of Clinton’s personal e-mail use at the State Department first broke in March 2015, she said during a press conference that she used personal e-mail to conduct official business out of “convenience.” “I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two,” Clinton said then. The FBI also found that State Department employees were sent a notice on Clinton’s behalf in 2011 warning them against using personal e-mail for official business because of “information security concerns.” “State employees were cautioned about security and records retention concerns regarding the use of personal e-mail. In 2011, a notice to all State employees was sent on Clinton’s behalf, which recommended employees avoid conducting State business from personal e-mail accounts due to information security concerns,” the documents released yesterday state. “Clinton stated she did not recall this specific notice, and she did not recall receiving any guidance from State regarding e-mail policies outlines in the State Department [Foreign Affairs Manual].”

    The FBI began investigating Clinton’s use of personal e-mail last year, in response to a referral from the inspector general of the intelligence community. While the FBI did not ultimately recommend charges be brought against Clinton or her aides, Director James Comey faulted them for being “extremely careless” in their handling of highly-classified information. The FBI also found that, contrary to Clinton’s claims, more than 100 e-mails on her private system contained classified information at the time they were sent or received. Investigators also concluded that hostile actors possibly gained access to Clinton’s server. When questioned about e-mail chains containing information marked “(C),” which denotes classified material, Clinton told investigators that she didn't know what the marking meant and speculated that it was used to label paragraphs “in alphabetical order,” according to the newly-released documents. “When asked about the e-mail chain containing ‘(C)’ portion markings that State determined to currently contain CONFIDENTIAL information, Clinton stated she did not know what the ‘(C)’ meant at the beginning of the paragraphs and speculated it was for referencing paragraphs marked in alphabetical order,” the documents state. Clinton also indicated to investigators that she was not concerned about e-mail discussions about future drone strikes containing classified information. "After reviewing an e-mail dated [redacted] with subject line [redacted] CLINTON stated she did not remember the e-mail specifically. CLINTON stated deliberation over a future drone strike did not give her cause for concern regarding classification,” the documents state. “CLINTON understood this type of conversation as part of the routine deliberation process. Moreover, she recalled many conversations about future strikes that have never occurred.”

    The new documents also provide insight into attempts by potentially hostile actors to gain access to Clinton’s personal system or accounts associated with it. The FBI, through forensic analysis, discovered that, on Jan. 5, 2013, an individual using the encrypted privacy tool Tor penetrated a staffer’s e-mail account on one of Clinton’s servers. The hacker logged into the e-mail account and “browsed e-mail folders and attachments,” according to the FBI documents. The investigation did not identify the individual or individuals responsible. Reports surfaced earlier this week that the FBI would publicly release documents related to the investigation as early as Wednesday, in response to multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The report was submitted to the Justice Department in July, and portions of the investigative report have also been given to Congress. "Today the FBI is releasing a summary of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s July 2, 2016, interview with the FBI concerning allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal e-mail server she used during her tenure,” the bureau said in a statement yesterday. “We also are releasing a factual summary of the FBI’s investigation into this matter.” FBI Director James Comey publicly announced that no charges would be recommended at a July 5th press conference, days after the bureau interviewed Clinton for several hours in connection with the investigation. The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The Clinton Foundation is “the largest unprosecuted charity fraud ever,” says the investigator who uncovered the financial discrepancies at General Electric before its stock crashed in 2008. It “wasn’t organized lawfully and it isn't operating lawfully. There’s never been an audit,” says Charles Ortel, described by the London Sunday Times as “one of the finest financial analysts on the planet. "Any nonprofit professional in the U.S. can look at the Clinton Foundation’s own statements, tax filings and financial reports and see there is something wrong,” agrees Amy Sterling Casil, who worked for charities for many years. "The organization does little to nothing with measurable outcomes or deliverables. Its reported revenues are wildly at variance with what it says it does." Ortel has examined every public filing by the Clinton Foundation and its donors. He’s found major discrepancies between what the Clinton Foundation reported receiving and what donors say they gave. For instance, between Sept, 2006 and Dec. 2008, the UNITAID consortium reported giving $100 million more than the Clinton Foundation reported receiving, Ortel said in an interview. Very little of the money the Clintons raised for Haitian relief after a devastating earthquake in 2010 actually went to the poor, notes Haitian journalist Dady Chery. Their disaster fund-raising is “predatory humanitarianism,” she says. “The business model of the Clintons is to stand between misery and the donor community and allow millions - maybe billions - of dollars to get diverted,” Ortel says. “Where there’s misery, they figure out a way to profit from it.” More than half the people outside government who met with Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state gave money to the Clinton Foundation, the Associated Press reported on Aug. 23rd. At least 85 of 154 people from private interests donated as much as $156 million, the AP says. More than a few large donors are foreigners with shadowy pasts, such as Lebanese businessman Gilbert Chagoury, who was denied entry to the U.S. last year because of suspicion of links to terrorism. Sixteen foreign governments donated up to $170 million after Secretary Clinton had meetings with their representatives, the AP reported. "Why did the Saudi regime and other Gulf tyrannies donate millions to the Clinton Foundation,” wonders left wing journalist Glenn Greenwald. “Hillary ran a hybrid organization - what we might call the Clinton State-Foundation - which served the needs of foundation donors, in return for their kindnesses,” says columnist Austin Bay. Clinton-controlled groups events are “all about buying access,” says NPR host Adam Davidson. The Clinton Foundation has made Bill and Hillary “beholden to scumbags,” he says. Journalists have expressed alarm about Donald Trump’s bromance with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and the megabucks his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was paid to promote Putin’s stooge in Ukraine. They've given less attention to Team Clinton’s ties to the Kremlin. The Podesta Group, founded by Hillary campaign chairman John Podesta and his brother Tony, lobbies for Russia’s biggest bank, which is “functionally an arm of the Kremlin,” says former counterintelligence officer John Schindler. We should be especially concerned with Hillary’s role in the Skolkovo Innovation Center, established in 2009 as Russia’s answer to Silicon Valley, Schindler says. "Of the 28 U.S., European and Russian companies that participated in Skolkovo, 17 were Clinton Foundation donors” or "had hired former President Clinton to give speeches,” notes Peter Schweizer of the Government Accountability Institute. Skolkovo is “a means for the Russian government to access our nation’s sensitive or classified research, development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial applications,” says the FBI’s Boston, Mass., field office. Skolkovo has contracts with Kamaz, a Russian defense firm that builds armored vehicles. “The FBI fears that Kamaz will provide Russia’s military with innovative research obtained from the foundation’s U.S. partners,” warned the FBI. Several senior Skolkovo officials are intelligence officers, a European colleague in the biz told Schindler. “It’s an obvious Kremlin front,” says a Pentagon intelligence official. “Exactly how Hillary profited off deals with Skolkovo - and how much - is something the American public has a right to know before November 8th,” Schindler says. The Clintons are more crooked, more corrupt, and more criminal than you thought you knew. Do what extent do you think it is virtually treasonous to vote them back into the White House?

    Meanwhile, for the Democrats, two longtime members of Italian organized crime syndicates have given the maximum allowed contribution to Democratic Senate hopeful Patrick Murphy, according to The Smoking Gun. John Staluppi and John Rosatti, both identified in FBI documents as members of the Colombo organized crime family, have already given $5,400 this election cycle to Murphy, who won the party’s primary on Tuesday and will face Republican Sen. Marco Rubio in November’s general election. Staluppi and Rosatti, both Brookyn, N.Y., natives who are now residents of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., were involved in the mob wars of the 1990s, according to FBI documents obtained by The Smoking Gun. Rosatti’s and Staluppi’s involvement with the Colombo gang is detailed in FBI debriefing reports with an assortment of mob turncoats, including former ranking members of the crime group. During the deadly early-90s fight for control of the Colombo family, Rosatti and Staluppi initially sided with and financed insurgent forces seeking to oust imprisoned boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico. But the pair subsequently switched allegiances mid-war after paying a visit to jailed Colombo captain Dominick “Donny Shacks” Montemarano, a staunch Persico supporter. The duo’s charge of heart is detailed in an FBI report of a debriefing of Salvatore Miciotta, a crime family captain. The Rosatti-Staluppi flip was later the subject of a bugged conversation between Persico allies. “We got those two guys with us, Staluppi and Rosatti. They’re with us now, right?” one hoodlum asked. “Yeah,” a second wise guy replied. Carmine Sessa, a former Colombo captain, identified Rosatti and Staluppi as members of a crew headed by Theodore Persico, Carmine’s son, according to an FBI report. During an NYPD surveillance outside a Brooklyn catering hall, detectives spotted Rosatti and Staluppi attending the wedding reception of another Persico son along with numerous other Colombo family figures. In 1988, Gregory Scarpa, a Colombo captain who doubled as a top echelon FBI informant, told his handlers that Staluppi was a member of the crime family and a “man to be taken seriously.” Referring to Staluppi’s interest in several large auto dealerships, Scarpa said that he “was brought into the family because of his legitimate enterprises.” Both Staluppi and Rosatti are specialists when it comes to yachts, which could be the tie that binds them to Murphy, who can often be found on his father’s 97-foot super yacht, Cocktails.

 

The parting shots

    On this date in 1838, Frederick Douglas escaped from slavery. In 1900, Natal, in South Africa, was annexed by England. In 1935, Malcolm Campbell reached 304 mph in a car. In 1943, during World War II, Italy was invaded by the Allied forces. In 1967, the last episode with John Daly as host of the game show "What's My Line?" aired on CBS. In 1971, Qatar gained its independence. In 1976, NASA's Viking 2 landed on Mars. And in 1990, Chicago White Sox pitcher Bobby Thigpen beat the major league baseball record for saves.

    The phenomenal Japanese singer Hatsune Miku (100 million YouTube hits) is coming off of a sold-out, 10-city North American concert tour with high-energy audiences (blocks-long lines to get in; raucous crowd participation; hefty souvenir sales) - except that "she" isn't real. Hatsune Miku is a projected hologram on stage singing and dancing (but her band is human), and her May show in Dallas (according to a Dallas Observer review) typically ignited frenzied fans who know the show's "every beat, outfit and glow stick color-change." Her voice, a synthesized "vocaloid," is crafted in pitch, timbre, and timing to sound human. And the latest PlayStation brings Hatsune Miku into the home by Virtual Reality.

    On August 11th, the U.S. Government's Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) famously refused to soften the regulation of marijuana, leaving it (with heroin) as a harsh "Schedule I" drug because, citing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) findings, it has "no medical use." However, as The Daily Caller pointed out, another federal agency - the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - obtained a U.S. patent in 2003 for marijuana-derived cannabinoids, which the HHS pointed out have several medical uses as an antioxidant and for limiting neurological damage following strokes.

    "Dogs are better protected than young kids under Oregon abuse laws," lamented a prosecutor in May because, unlike the pet law, the "child abuse" law requires proof the victim experienced "substantial" pain  - which a young child often lacks vocabulary to describe. Simply showing welts and bruises is insufficient, the Court of Appeals has ruled.

    That same Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in June that Thomas Wade, 44, was not guilty of a crime when in 2013 he unzipped his pants, reached inside, and at that point cursed the woman he had confronted in a public park. "Distasteful," wrote the Court, but it was an exercise of Wade's free speech rights.

    In August, Houston, Texas, defense lawyer Jerry Guerinot announced his retirement from death-penalty cases, leaving him with a perfect record for that area of his practice: He lost every single time. Twenty-one clients received the death penalty, and 10 have been executed, so far. He made no excuses, pointing out that "gang members, serial killers, and sociopaths" were entitled to representation, too, and that he has taken more than 500 non-capital cases to trial with, presumably, more success.

    Tourism officials in Iceland recently posted "hundreds" of signs at visitor attractions showing a squatting person in silhouette, with a small pile on the ground underneath - and the familiar diagonal line (indicating "don't"). Critics of the signs reluctantly admit Iceland's chronic shortage of public restrooms.

    In a July-released YouTube clip, a Disney fan posted shot after shot of "rude" Chinese tourists at Shanghai Disneyland, coaxing their small children to urinate in public rather than in restrooms.

    The Tourism Bureau of Japan's Hokkaido Island recently rewrote its
etiquette guide for visitors to underscore the inappropriateness of
"belching or flatulence" in public.

    A New York Times reporter, describing in June the rising prices of prescription pharmaceuticals, noted that a popular pain reliever (probably describing oxycodone) was available on the Paterson, N.J., black market for $25 a pill, while heroin was going for $2 a baggie.

    The economic growth rate in Ireland for 2015 was revised - upward - in July. Its gross domestic product was originally estimated as 7.8 percent, but subsequently - adding the paper value of several "inversions" (U.S. companies "moving" to Ireland to reduce their U.S. taxes - Ireland found that it was actually growing at 26.7 percent.

    Investigators revealed in July that an off-duty Aurora, Colo., sheriff's deputy had justifiably fired his gun to resist a parking lot mugging - and that, further-more, one of the bullets from Deputy Jose Marquez's gun had gone straight into the barrel of one of the handguns pointed at him. The investigators called the shot "one in a billion."

    Matthew Lavin, 39, drew Internet acclaim in July after he was gored through his left thigh while "running with the bulls" in the annual spectacle in Pamplona, Spain. Interviewed in his hospital bed by Madrid's The Local, he called it "the best time ever" and said he looked forward to another run next year.

    Gary Durham, 40, was shot to death during a heated road-rage incident in Plant City, Fla., on Aug. 10th. Durham had served 10 years in prison after an aggressive road-rage episode in 2001 in which he pursued another driver and knocked him to the ground, causing the man to hit his head, fatally, on the pavement. Included in Durham's 2002 sentence was an order to take anger management classes.

    The Borough Council of Pompton Lakes, N.J., was surprised to learn in June that, because of an existing local ordinance, dogs were not permitted in its brand-new Pompton Lakes dog park, created with great fanfare in an area of Hershfield Park. The Council vowed to fix the problem.

    In June, a police watchdog agency in Dublin, Ireland, asked officers (the "gardai") across the country to try to carry out house raids at "reasonable hours" so that they do not disturb the occupants. In one complaint, the gardai staged a 3:15 a.m. raid to search for evidence of stolen vehicle accessories.

    A 9-year-old girl named Irina won a contest in Berezniki, Russia, in August for letting mosquitos bite her more often that they bit other contestants. It is the signature event of the annual Russian Mosquito Festival, and her 43 hits were enough to earn her the title of "tastiest girl." The annual Great Texas Mosquito Festival in Clute, Texas (south of Houston), apparently has nothing comparable.

    In July, Joshua Jacobs, 30, accidentally knocked down a traffic sign at 12:45 a.m., in Vero Beach, Fla., and, spotting a sheriff's deputy, sped away. The deputy gave chase - especially, he said, given the fully-grown marijuana plant resting in the bed of the pick-up truck. Jacobs was arrested.

    Jeremy Watts, 30, and Jessica Heady, 24, were charged with aggravated burglary (a PlayStation and other electronics from a man's home) in Clarksville, Tenn., in August. The pair later offered the haul to a Cash America Pawn shop but did not realize that the home they had burglarized was the pawnshop manager's.

    And R&B singer August Alsina is 24 years old today. Actor Harshad Arora is 29; Soccer player Jerome Boateng is 28; Actress Amy Boettcher is 16; Soap opera actress Faye Brookes is 29; Soccer player Julio Cesar is 37; Football player Mason Crosby is 32; DJ Envy is 39; Female softball player Jennie Finch is 36; Rapper Stefan Kendal Gordy is 31; Pop singer Allison Green is 25; Comedian Nick Hall is 33; Actor Garrett Hedlund is 32; South Korean pop singer Jang Hyun-seung is 27; Rapper Konan is 27; Soul singer Chris Leonard is 21; Soccer player Sebastian Lletget is 24; Actor Costas Mandylor is 54; Rock singer Andrew McMahon is 34; News of the Force's Chris Munger is 33; Hockey player James Neal is 29; Pop singer OMI is 30; Philippines Sen. Grace Poe is 48; Radio host Dave Ramsey is 56; Rock singer Charlie Scene is 31; Actor Charlie Sheen is 51; and actress Rita Volk is 26.

    (Some of today's "The parting shots" entries were provided courtesy of newsoftheweird.com in Tampa, Fla.)

    

    Don’t like Trump/Pence? Don’t like Clinton/Kaine? Then this may be the ticket for you in 2016:

       

 

 

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