AG Sessions Ends Obama’s Slush Fund at Main Justice

The Huffington Post is not happy about this as they describe in part:

The memo will hurt nonprofit groups that provide services to communities hurt by corporate wrongdoing like mortgage fraud and environmental abuses. Republicans have called out groups like La Raza, a Latino advocacy group; the Urban League, a civil rights group; and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which works to expand access to financial services in poor neighborhoods. Habitat for Humanity has also benefited, although that organization hasn’t come under criticism.

For instance, as part of Bank of America’s $16.65 billion settlement with the Department of Justice in 2014 (a former subsidiary of the company, Countrywide Financial, was one of the most toxic subprime mortgage lenders), the bank could donate $100 million to community and legal groups. Such donations to approved groups would then count toward the settlement’s total value. 

Conservative groups portrayed the Obama administration as a shadowy slush fund for leftist organizations, hyping connections of the groups that received funding to ACORN, the Republican bogieman that was defunded after false accusations of wrongdoing.

In reality, the Department of Justice was using its settlements to help fund advocacy groups that fought for the people and communities hurt by the wrongdoing the DOJ was attempting to correct. Often, that meant funding groups that work to help the poor and minorities fight against foreclosure and help facilitate reinvestment in the communities devastated by bank fraud.

So, what did Sessions actually do? He sent this memo:

 

Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Goodlatte authored a bill to stop this nonsense too. That is found here.

For instance, under Obama, a huge settlement against Bank of America in the amount of $16 billion contained provisions where millions went to community development causes and housing nonprofit operations. The case against Volkswagen was much the same where part of the $2 billion settlement went to infrastructure schemes and education for zero emission vehicles. These are but two items as a sample and the decisions for contributions was subjective and at the discretion of the White House and the Justice Department.

Further, only Congress has the authority to determine where funds are spent and that authority was upheld in a Court of Appeals decision, found here.

In summary too bad for HuffPo and good for AG Sessions.

D-Day: ‘Total Chaos’ of Beach Landings

On June 6, 1944, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed along a heavily fortified, 50-mile stretch of French coastline in the historic operation known as D-Day. More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded on the beaches of Normandy, but by day’s end, the Allies had gained a foothold to begin liberating Europe.

DoD: When the ramp to his World War II landing craft slammed down onto Utah Beach, Army Cpl. Herman Zeitchik jumped out and dashed across the sand as deadly rounds were shot out from fortified bunkers.

 

Soldiers crowd a landing craft on the way to Normandy during the Allied invasion, June 6, 1944. Army photo D-Day

Soldiers crowd a landing craft on the way to Normandy during the Allied invasion, June 6, 1944. Army photo

With the amphibious assault underway in the early morning of June 6, 1944, Zeitchik and other 4th Infantry Division soldiers — who were part of the first wave to land — desperately tried to find safe passage through the German-occupied beach.

“When the front of these landing crafts went down, we just took off,” said Zeitchik, now 93 years old. “We couldn’t see where to fire. We just had to get off the beach and try to find the rest of the unit.”

Along a 50-mile stretch of coastline in northern France, more than 160,000 Allied troops stormed Utah Beach and four other beaches that day to gain a foothold in continental Europe. By the end of the D-Day invasion, more than 9,000 of those Allied troops were either dead or wounded — the majority of them Americans.

While several in his unit were casualties, Zeitchik and others survived to push on into enemy territory and liberate Paris.

“There were so many of us coming ashore. I was just lucky,” he said today before attending a remembrance ceremony at the National World War II Memorial here that commemorated the 73rd anniversary of D-Day.

More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft were used in what is known as the largest-ever seaborne invasion. The massive operation would turn the tide against Nazi Germany forces entrenched across Europe.

“I don’t know that we could have ever done a better job of recreating what happened on this historic day back in 1944,” said Lt. Gen. Gary Cheek, director of the Army Staff. Speaking at the ceremony, Cheek said the heroics witnessed on D-Day helped to pave the way to an Allied victory in Europe while also giving Americans freedom for years to come.

“They stormed these beaches so we might stand here free and prosperous,” he said. “They were steadfast and loyal to the mission at hand and met their rendezvous with destiny head-on and they were successful.”

Total Chaos

Army Pvt. Arnald Gabriel recalled wading through the cold ocean water after his landing craft failed to make it all the way to Omaha Beach. “The water, believe it or not, in June was awfully cold, and that with the combination of fear, it was quite an experience,” he said. A machine gunner with the 29th Infantry Division, Gabriel described a how the chaotic scene unfolded.

“With the Air Force overheard, the Navy shelling [enemy positions], the enemy firing at you and we’re firing at them, it was just total chaos,” he said. “Nobody landed where they were supposed to. I landed way over to the left flank and ended up with the 1st [Infantry] Division. It took me a day to get back and find the 29th Division. It was that kind of chaos.”

After storming Omaha Beach, helping to liberate parts of France and earning two Bronze Stars with the Army, Gabriel later joined the Air Force as a band director. Before the war, he was in his high school band, and he always wanted to get back into music, he said. Music provided him comfort and kept his mind from dwelling too long on the memories of D-Day and other combat missions.

“The way I overcame my post-traumatic stress was to keep so busy that I had no time to look back,” he said before the ceremony.

Shortly after the war, he said, a lieutenant gave him the advice about keeping busy. It came at a time when he was struggling to deal with his thoughts of what happened that fateful day, he added.

“It’s OK to look back, but just don’t stare,” said Gabriel, who retired as an Air Force colonel after serving 36 years. “What great advice that was. By keeping busy, you don’t have time to look back.”

Gabriel, who celebrated his 92nd birthday last week, stood at a podium today and led a band of high school musicians who played patriotic songs during the ceremony.

As a veteran, Gabriel still works 25 musical performances each year, and has vowed to return to the memorial to conduct a band again. “I’m going to do the 75th, and the 80th [D-Day anniversary], when I’m 100 years old,” he said, smiling. “I love it. It’s great therapy; it really is.”

Performing at these events in front of audiences isn’t just about him, though. It’s for those who never made it home, he said.

“I remember them every day of my life,” he said. “They’re at the podium with me. I’m up there because of them.”

Conspiracy of Fire Cell

Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF) is an anarchist organization that first surfaced in Greece in 2008 with a wave of 11 firebombings against luxury car dealerships and banks. Monthly arson attacks followed with proclamations expressing solidarity with arrested anarchists in Greece and elsewhere. They are perhaps most famous for a parcel bomb campaign that targeted European politicians in 2010.  In a manifesto written in September 2016, members of CCF espoused famous anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartholomeo Vanzetti, “No act of rebellion is useless; no act of rebellion is harmful.”Enemies and FriendsCCF strongly apposes Golden Dawn an extremist right wing group also in Greece.  CCF has a chapter in Mexico please see TRAC Profile Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF) – Mexico 2016On 13 October 2016, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire claimed credit for a small bombing in central Athens underneath the house of prosecutor Georgia…

Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF-FAI-FRI), also known as CCF / SPF, CoCoF , CCFN, Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, Conspiracy of Fire Cells, Synomosia Pyrinon SPF, Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei , Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), Revolutionary Organization Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Συνωμοσία Πυρήνων της Φωτιάς is an active group formed c. 2008.
So?

Greek extremists go abroad for training in revolution

From anarchists to nihilists, militant Greek youth are increasingly networking with other global forces of violence. Left unchecked, they risk turning into loose cannons, disregarding all costs, reports Anthee Carassava.

Greek extremists are fleeing to Syria to fight against the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) group, and the surge is stoking concerns among authorities in Athens that a fearless, new-fangled generation of militants could usher a fresh wave of domestic violence here.

Although the flight has long been speculated among leading security circles here, concerns mounted recently as local media published pictures showing Greek anarchists fighting alongside the International Revolutionary People’s Guerilla Forces in Rojava, near Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

Brandishing AK-47s and wearing ski masks with military fatigues, the so-called Greek contingent is seen posing against a brick wall emblazoned with an ominous message: “From Rojava to Athens.” In another picture, the extremists feature alongside a French team, part of the so-called 161 crew, warning in a separate banner: “No step back.”

Authorities contacted by DW said police were examining the pictures published in the Athens daily Eleftheros Typos to detect homegrown extremists evading arrest for years.

“There is serious concern about this development and we are on alert as we are in the midst of a flare-up of domestic violence here,” said a senior police official.

The official refused to elaborate, but security experts said the Rojava recruits risked returning back to Greece with an updated cause. Worst yet, they could return with more dangerous means and methods to upgrade their long-standing fight to subvert the state.

“There is a growing networking among violent anti-establishment forces,” says Mary Bossi, professor of international security in Pireaus University. “The recruitment is extremely rigorous because unlike traditional terror groups of the past, these groups are open – posting, recruiting and spreading their messages freely,” she explains.

Regular attacks

In a recent interview, a leading IRPGF member said the Rojava movement was bent on fighting IS. But its purpose, he explained, was also to “train [anarchists with] both guerilla and conventional warfare for their respective struggles back home and to gain experience in how a revolution functions on a social level.”

Greek anarchists in Rojava posed with a message for back home from Rojava Greek anarchists in Rojava posed with a message for back home from Rojava

Greek anarchists are the latest to join in the Rojava movement since Amir Taaki, an Iranian-British Bitcoin coder, set out to Syria’s northern border to fight against IS.

For Greece, though, the stakes are high. Any revival of violence here could erase gains made after the successful bust up of November 17, a deadly terror group that evaded arrest for more than two decades. It could also add to lingering financial woes that have already dealt a devastating blow to Greek society.

Experts are concerned.

About 480 extremist groups, ranging from far-left anarchists to self-proclaimed nihilists, have emerged since the breakup of November 17, targeting symbols of wealth and the state as Greeks grapple with seven years of brutal austerity.

With two to three militant groupings claiming responsibility for mainly low-grade attacks that rattle the country almost daily, a resurging tide of domestic terror is swelling, intelligence officials concede.

“I don’t want to think of the warfare these recruits in Rojava are going to bring back home and the situation that will transpire,” said a senior intelligence official.

Experts warn of deaths to come

In recent weeks, conservative lawmakers and security experts have urged action, accusing authorities of not doing enough to crush a new generation of extremists feeding on resentment of the country’s feckless political elite and seven years of austerity measures prescribed by Western monetary institutions.

“Any state that wants to do away with its homegrown extremists, can do so,” Bossi told DW. “Greece has both the technology and resources for the task.

“Unfortunately, though, amateurism is at play.

“Once an attack happens authorities scramble with crackdowns for a few days and then interest in addressing the real causes of the violence fade.”

Last week, and in a major escalation of violence, homegrown terrorists attacked former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos as he was being driven home, in Athens. Two members of his security entourage were also injured as the former central bank governor opened a booby-trapped envelope in his car, suffering major injuries from shrapnel that darted into his chest, groin and stomach as a result of the powerful explosion.

Forensic officers inspect the car in which a bomb in an envelope detonated in Athens Attacks like the one last week on a former prime minister have become frequent

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but the hit bears the hallmarks of a homegrown militant anti-authority group of anarchists called the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fires.

Known also for posting a similar parcel of explosives to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble earlier this year, the small band of extremists has rapidly evolved into an urban guerilla force, upgrading its attacks from crude pressure-cooker bombs to more sophisticated explosives in recent years.

Even so, Greece’s new vintage of extremists remain dangerously reckless.

Unlike the careful and calculating tactics used by older terror groups, their pursuit of disrupting and destabilizing the state comes at a high cost. Worse yet, any deployment of militarized techniques in upcoming attacks risks turning them into volatile loose canons, plunging Greece into a new reign of deadly terror.

“Their complete disregard for any collateral damage is alarming,” Bossi says. “That alone should have authorities on extra alert, trying to bust them up before it’s too late.

“Left unchecked,” she warns, “any future hits are bound to come with a kill.”

Tillerson Ordered to Repair Relations with Russia

How about this question? Democracies worldwide should be demanding Russia become a better global actor, right? Read on for undeniable facts.

Russia dispatched a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter to intercept a U.S. B-52 strategic bomber on mission in the Baltic Sea. Russia keeps a Baltic flight operation for its Baltic Fleet air defense based out of Kaliningrad. Further, on the same day, Tuesday, Russian scrambled at MiG-31 jet fighter to intercept a Norwegian patrol plane of the Barents Sea. Russia has a large inventory of missiles stored in Kaliningrad.

Image result for russian kaliningrad military advantage

This comes the day after NSA documents were stolen and released to media on the investigation of Russian phishing operations into the U.S. election voting software from 2016.

As Secretary of State Tillerson is traveling to once again assure allies of America’s commitment to NATO, respective partnerships and cooperation, he has also been told to eliminate the turmoil between the United States and Russia. Tillerson is presently in New Zealand where he was barraged with questions regarding countless Russian investigations and tweets from President Trump.

Meanwhile, Putin continues to deny any evidence presented with regard to not only hacking into United States agencies including the election software, but has also denied all evidence of the Assad regime using chemical weapons on civilians in Syria.

Many will think that President Trump has a plan to normalized relations with the Kremlin and continuing to overlook past aggressive events against the West by Russia is a good plan. Decades of history proves otherwise.

Russia has not only annexed Crimea and continues at the military conflict with Ukraine, Putin is also deepening the threat against the United States when it comes to Cuba, Venezuela, Latin America but most especially the Arctic. All of this without so much as any kind of rebuke from the White House.

Image result for russian arctic BusinessInsider

Russian spies and diplomats have been involved in a nearly decade-long effort to spread propaganda and provoke discord in Macedonia as part of a region-wide endeavor to stop Balkan countries from joining NATO. This conclusion comes from a tranche of intelligence documents obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and partners NOVA TV and the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK).

Russia has been giving financial aide to Cuba and other Caribbean Islands and has forgiven $32 billion in Cuban debt. In Nicaragua, Russia has expanded military ties and uses Nicaraguan ports for Russian warships.

As today, the Department of Defense announced to start of the offensive in Raqqa, Syria to rid the city finally of Islamic State, Russia will continue to prop up the Assad regime via the Syrian Express.

Since Moscow’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war began in September 2015, a key element of Russian logistical support for its forces has been a maritime supply route deployed from southern Russian Black Sea ports via the Turkish Straits to Syria. This supply train, nicknamed the “Syrian Express” by the media, has now apparently attracted the attention of Syrian extremist groups.

On May 16, Turkey’s Gazete Habertürk stated that Turkish intelligence had collected information about the Islamic State preparing a possible attack on Russian warships transiting the Bosporus. This, in turn, reportedly pushed Istanbul’s security services to step up protective measures and begin monitoring 146 possible points along the shoreline from where the attacks could be carried out (Gazete Habertürk, May 16). But later the same day, Istanbul authorities denied the reports.   Nonetheless, the denials failed to take into account the Islamic State’s current de facto presence in Istanbul; as the aforementioned media account was being dismissed, the paper Milliyet reported that police had arrested Khasan Gulomov (a.k.a. Abu Khaliq) in Istanbul’s Başakşehir district. Gulomov is allegedly connected to the Reina nightclub attack in Istanbul on January 1, in which 39 people were killed. Police confiscated 12 Kalashnikovs, $4,378 and 3,000 Swedish krona ($345) during the raid (Milliyet, May 17).   Every Russian ship currently navigating the Bosporus is escorted by a police helicopter and two Turkish Coast Guard boats. Russian Navy vessels, primarily from the Black Sea Fleet, regularly transit the Turkish Straits in order to deliver military equipment to Russian forces in Syria or carry out combat operations in the Eastern Mediterranean (Akşam, May 16).   At the same time, Russia’s use of the Turkish Straits to resupply its military operations in Syria is but one aspect of its utilization of these waterways as a transit route. Notably, Russian-flagged tankers use them on a regular basis to ship oil to European markets. Turkey is constrained in what it can do to control commercial or maritime traffic through the Straits, as ship passage via this route is regulated by the 1936 Montreux Convention.

According to Article 2, merchant vessels can pass through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles without hindrance “day and night, regardless of flag and cargo,” while the warships of Black Sea littoral powers enjoy similar passage rights except in times of war (Sam.baskent.edu.tr, accessed May 31). Turkey has repeatedly voiced its concerns to Russia to no avail about the rising volume of the latter’s oil tanker traffic in the Bosporus, the narrowest strait in the world used for international navigation and one that bisects Istanbul—a city of 12 million inhabitants. The waterway is congested with civilian merchantmen: about 45,000 ships from around the world annually pass through the strait (RIA Novosti, May 16). More here from Jamestown.

Russia only teams up with adversarial countries against the West. Having any kind of trusting alliance with the Kremlin is misguided and a fool’s errand. Reagan told us so years ago.

NSA Leaker, Reality Leigh Winner Charged, Russian Hacks

The search warrant is located here. The warrant was issued on June 3 and she was arrested the same day and charged.

A criminal complaint was filed in the Southern District of Georgia today charging Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a federal contractor from Augusta, Georgia, with removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 793(e).

Winner was arrested by the FBI at her home on Saturday, June 3, and appeared in federal court in Augusta this afternoon.

“Exceptional law enforcement efforts allowed us quickly to identify and arrest the defendant,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. “Releasing classified material without authorization threatens our nation’s security and undermines public faith in government. People who are trusted with classified information and pledge to protect it must be held accountable when they violate that obligation.”

According to the allegations contained in the criminal complaint:

Winner is a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation assigned to a U.S. government agency facility in Georgia. She has been employed at the facility since on or about February 13, and has held a Top Secret clearance during that time. On or about May 9, Winner printed and improperly removed classified intelligence reporting, which contained classified national defense information from an intelligence community agency, and unlawfully retained it. Approximately a few days later, Winner unlawfully transmitted by mail the intelligence reporting to an online news outlet.

Once investigative efforts identified Winner as a suspect, the FBI obtained and executed a search warrant at her residence. According to the complaint, Winner agreed to talk with agents during the execution of the warrant. During that conversation, Winner admitted intentionally identifying and printing the classified intelligence reporting at issue despite not having a “need to know,” and with knowledge that the intelligence reporting was classified. Winner further admitted removing the classified intelligence reporting from her office space, retaining it, and mailing it from Augusta, Georgia, to the news outlet, which she knew was not authorized to receive or possess the documents.

An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

The prosecution is being handled by Trial Attorney Julie A. Edelstein of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Solari of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia. The investigation is being conducted by the FBI.

***

Winner’s lawyer, Titus T. Nichols, said he had not yet seen any of the evidence in the case, so he could not discuss the specific accusations. He said his client has served in the Air Force for six years, including a recent assignment at Fort Meade, home of the NSA.

According to court documents, Winner had a top-security clearance as an active-duty member of the Air Force from January 2013 until February of this year, when she began working for Pluribus International Corporation, a government contractor, at a facility in Georgia.

Winner remains in jail pending a detention hearing later this week, said the lawyer, adding that he expects the government will seek to keep her behind bars pending trial. Nichols said his client should be released.    More here. Intercept is known to be the media outlet to which she mailed the documents. See the full story from Intercept here.

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