Category Archives: DOJ, DC and inside the Beltway

Syrians: “Barrel Bombs are More Merciful”…Russia?

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In 2016, it was Russia dropping the barrel bombs on Aleppo and Homs.

Warplanes from Russia’s lone aircraft carrier and a missile frigate struck targets in Syria on Tuesday, bombing areas southwest of the embattled city of Aleppo, as Syrian government aircraft renewed barrel bomb attacks on the city itself.

The first-ever Russian strikes from the Mediterranean-based carrier Admiral Kuznetsov were described by the Kremlin on Tuesday as targeting extremists in Idlib and Homs provinces. More here.

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Now that Aleppo, Idlib and Homs are for the most part ghost towns, people that fled to Idlib and Ghouta are being killed by even more Russian barrel bombs.

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The war in Syria is forgotten by the West and that is shameful. What the media is ignoring is reporting on the never ending war and suffering. Why is this an issue? Because the United States is still in Syria.

The U.S.-led coalition is working with its Syrian militia allies to set up a new border force of 30,000 personnel, the coalition said on Sunday, a move that has added to Turkish anger over U.S. support for Kurdish-dominated forces in Syria.

A senior Turkish official told Reuters the U.S. training of the new “Border Security Force” was the reason that the U.S. charge d‘affaires was summoned in Ankara last week, and President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said the development was worrying and unacceptable.

The force, whose inaugural class is currently being trained, will be deployed at the borders of the area controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – an alliance of militias in northern and eastern Syria dominated by the Kurdish YPG. More here.

Related reading: Russia’s Lavrov: US wants to slice up Syria

Meanwhile, as Russia has become a full time military occupier in Syria, Foreign Minister Lavrov is yelling squirrel and blaming the United States for destroying peace globally. Yup..imagine that. He has a full list of grievances against the United States.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the United States of destabilizing the world, airing a list of grievances over the Trump administration’s foreign policy.

Lavrov dedicated the opening of his annual press conference Monday to castigating the US, which is expected to soon issue a fresh round of sanctions against Russia over its interference in the 2016 US election. Russia has long denied meddling in the vote.
Lavrov criticized the US for issuing regular “threats” in relation to events in North Korea and Iran, saying they had “further destabilized” the global situation.
He did not mention President Donald Trump by name, but the US President has issued stern threats to North Korea and Iran, sending a series of fiery Twitter posts attacking the leadership in both nations.
Trump has openly ridiculed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Twitter over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear testing and threatened military intervention. He recently lambasted the Iranian leadership for being repressive, “brutal and corrupt,” and supported anti-government protesters challenging the government in six days of rallies.
Lavrov accused the US of provoking tensions on the Korean peninsula.
“The United States quite plainly says that the military confrontation is inevitable, however, everyone understands the catastrophic consequences of such recklessness,” he said.
He also criticized the US for expanding its military exercises around North Korea, “which provoked a new escalation of tensions,” while others were working through diplomatic channels to resume talks with Pyongyang.
Lavrov warned the US not to back out of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump had vowed to tear up the 2015 agreement, brokered by the Obama administration, alongside several European allies, Russia and China. The deal obliges Iran to restrict its nuclear program in exchange for eased sanctions.
Trump signed a waiver on Iran sanctions Friday under the deal, but signaled that he would not do so again. He has been under pressure from foreign allies and, according to US officials, his own national security team to stick to the deal.
The day he signed the waiver, however, Trump also announced new separate sanctions on 14 Iranian individuals and entities, in a move that has rattled Tehran.
Lavrov said that US threats to walk away from the deal would undermine any future agreement with North Korea.
“It’s sad that United States once again gives a reason to doubt their ability to be reliable contract partners,” he said.
“And if this agreement is being taken aside and Iran is being told — you stay within the frame of agreements but we will return the sanctions — well, put yourself in place North Korea’s place. They are being promised that sanctions will be lifted if they say no to their nuclear program, what if they do it but sanctions are still there?”
Relations between Moscow and Washington deteriorated in 2017, as several US investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election got underway. The US tightened sanctions against Russia and closed several of its diplomatic compounds in the country, while Moscow forced the US to cut back on its diplomatic staff in Russia.
Lavrov laughed when CNN asked if he regretted Trump’s ascension to the presidency, given the diplomatic tumult, and whether he might now prefer it if Hillary Clinton had won the election.
“This is not what diplomats do — regret something that has happened. We work with facts, and facts are what we have today, so we just do what needs to be done to advance Russia’s interests under the current circumstances,” he responded.
US officials have not publicly responded to Lavrov’s comments.

 

 

Google Worked for Democrats Against Republicans

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3. Throughout the Class Periods, and in violation of California law, Google employees
who expressed views deviating from the majority view at Google on political subjects
raised in the workplace and relevant to Google’s employment policies and its business, such as “diversity” hiring policies, “bias sensitivity,” or “ social justice,” were/are singled out, mistreated, and systematically punished and terminated from Google, in violation of their legal rights.
4. Google’s open hostility for conservative thought is paired with invidious
discrimination on the basis of race and gender, barred by law. Google’s management goes to extreme—and illegal—lengths to encourage hiring managers to take protected categories such as race and /or gender into consideration as determinative hiring factors, to the detriment of Caucasian and male employees and potential employees at Google.
5. Damore, Gudeman, and other class members were most racized, belittled, and punished
for their heterodox political views, and for the added sin of their birth circumstances of being
Caucasians and/or males. This is the essence of discrimination —Google formed opinions about and
then treated Plaintiffs not based on their individual merits, but rather on their membership in groups
with assumed characteristics.
***
Sounds precisely like the Obama IRS when it did the same thing. It is yet another kind of cyber war.
If there is any doubt about Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Obama and Hillary –>

Clinton Status Memo Mentioning Google’s Eric Schmidt by Joe Schoffstall on Scribd

  More here.

Yup that commie phrase we have come to know well…white privilege…in the case of Google it was ‘white male privilege’.
Google Punished Gudeman for His Views on Racism and Discrimination
88. After being reported to Google, Google HR spoke with Gudeman in or around
September 2015 regarding his posts.
89. Google HR discussed Gudeman’s viewpoints on race and/or gender equality, and his
political viewpoints. Google HR chastised him for attempting to stand up for Caucasian males and his conservative views.
90. At the end of the HR meeting, Gudeman was issued a verbal warning.
91. Gudeman complained to his colleagues about the lack of fairness that conservatives
received at Google, and the leeway Google provided for liberals to express their thoughts and opinions without repercussions.
92. After the 2016 presidential election, many employees at Google began to panic, having
expected a different outcome fully in line with their political views.
The Corporate Internal Blacklist
131. Google’s management-sanctioned blacklists were directed at specific Google
employees who tactfully expressed conservative viewpoints in politically-
charged debates. In one case, Jay Gengelbach, a L6 SWE Manager, publicly bragged about blacklisting an intern for failing to change his conservative views.
133. Kim Burchett (“Burchett”), a L7 SWE Manager, proposed creating an online
companywide blacklist of political conservatives inside Google. She was kind enough to suggest to her readership that they might deserve “something resembling a trial” before being added.
134. On August 7, 2015, another manager, Collin Winter, posted threats directed at a Google employee as a result of raising concerns of harassment and discrimination
to Urs Holzle. Winter stated: “I keep a written blacklist of people whom I will never allow on or near my team, based on how they view and treat their coworkers. That blacklist got a little longer today.”
135.
Also on August 7, 2015, another manager, Paul Cowan, reshared Collin Winter’s threat
to express his agreement with it and to indicate that he had also blacklisted Google employees with perceived conservative views. Cowan stated: “If you express a dunderheaded opinion about religion, about politics, or about ‘social justice’, it turns out I am allowed to think you’re a halfwit… I’m perfectly within my rights to mentally categorize you in my dickhead box… Yes, I maintain (mentally, and not (yet) publicly) [a blacklist]. If I had to work with people on this list, I would refuse, and try to get them removed; or I would change teams; or I would quit.”
Heck you can read the 161 page lawsuit here complete with screen captures of internal employee chats with each other. Swell place eh?

FBI Affidavit/Warrant Stephen Paddock Released

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LATimes: Her fingerprints were on the ammunition. Her casino players’ card was found in his room. Investigators scoured her social media accounts and emails — one of which he, Stephen Paddock, had access to.

Marilou Danley may not have been present when Paddock unleashed a furious barrage of bullets down on a crowd of 20,000 at a Las Vegas country music festival, killing 58 people and wounding more than 500 others, but her links to his life seemed to be everywhere.

The facts about Danley were among the details revealed when a U.S. District Court judge in Las Vegas unsealed more than 300 pages of search warrants and affidavits at the request of several media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times. The request was unopposed by prosecutors.

But why the 64-year-old Paddock shot up the Route 91 Harvest festival on Oct. 1 remains a mystery, and the search warrants — despite revealing his large cache of weaponry — raise more questions than answers about his actions and motive.

Paddock came to Las Vegas with an arsenal — more than 20 firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and spent casings were found in his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. Other search warrants revealed more than 1,000 rounds and 100 pounds of explosive material in his car.

Authorities also recovered 18 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds at Paddock’s house in Mesquite, Nev. A “large quantity of firearms” was recovered from another residence he had in Reno.

The search warrants also covered electronic accounts and social media accounts of Paddock and Danley. They revealed an exchange about a money wire transfer. Danley returned from a trip to the Philippines days after the shooting, but wasn’t arrested when she arrived in the United States.

Las Vegas Shooting Warrants by MikeBalsamoReports on Scribd


According to an affidavit, Danley was identified early on “as the most likely person who aided or abetted Stephen Paddock based on her informing law enforcement that her fingerprints would likely be found on the ammunition used during the attack.”

In the court documents, she told investigators she occasionally participated in the loading of the magazines.

Danley has fully cooperated with authorities and has released statements saying she had no idea what Paddock was planning and that she was devastated by the massacre. She was never arrested, though was deemed “a person of interest” by police after the shooting. Her attorney could not be reached for comment.

Officials with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did not return a request for comment.

Not much is known about Danley’s and Paddock’s relationship, though workers at a Starbucks in a Mesquite casino recalled that he had a habit of berating her in public. The abuse would come if she asked to use his casino card to make a purchase. Danley stood only elbow high to Paddock, a tall man with a beer belly.

Esperanza Mendoza, a supervisor at the Starbucks, told The Times in October: “He would glare down at her and say — with a mean attitude — ‘You don’t need my casino card for this. I’m paying for your drink, just like I’m paying for you.’ Then she would softly say, ‘OK,’ and step back behind him. He was so rude to her in front of us.”

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey said she saw no reason to keep the warrants sealed, especially since lawyers with the federal government did not oppose the unsealing, with some minor redactions. However, 10 pages were kept under seal pending a hearing in state court Tuesday.

Authorities also revealed in the court documents emails from Amazon to Paddock’s email account with his home in Mesquite as the destination. It showed that on Sept. 7, 2017, he received an email related to the purchase of a “EOTech 512 A65 Tactical Holographic firearm accessory.”

Amazon confirmed the delivery would go to his residence. “Investigators believe this piece of equipment was utilized in the attack carried out by Stephen Paddock,” the affidavit read.

The warrants released Friday also produced a puzzling email exchange that Paddock appeared to have with himself.

One instance where investigators identified two email account attached to him — [email protected] and [email protected] — an exchange began with “Try an ar before u buy. We have a huge selection. Located in the Las Vegas area.”

Later that day, an email was received back from [email protected] that read “we have a wide variety of optics and ammunition to try.”

Then Paddock sent an email to [email protected] that read: “for a thrill try out bumpfire ar’s with 100 round magazine.”

In the affidavit, investigators said they believed the communications may have been related to the eventual attack. Authorities have said Paddock used a “bump stock,” a device that can make semiautomatic guns mimic the rapid fire of automatic weapons.

But FBI investigators appeared perplexed by the exchange.

“Investigators have been unable to figure out why Stephen Paddock would be exchanging messages related to weapons that were utilized in the attack between two of his email accounts. Conversely, if the Target Account was not controlled by Stephen Paddock, investigators need to determine who was communicating with him about weapons that were used in the attack,” according to a warrant.

There was also a warrant that revealed Paddock’s room at Mandalay Bay had three cellphones. Two were unlocked, but “neither contained significant information that allowed investigators to determine the full scope of Stephen Paddock’s planning and preparation for the attack.”

The third phone, however, was unable to be unlocked, the affidavit said.

 

More Indictments on Uranium One Money Laundering Scandal

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Primer: December 15, 2015/Former Russian Nuclear Energy Official Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Money Laundering Conspiracy Involving Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations

U.S. Conspirators Paid More Than $2 Million to Influence Russian Nuclear Energy Official and to Secure Business with State-Owned Russian Nuclear Energy Company

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Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 12, 2018

Former President of Maryland-Based Transportation Company Indicted on 11 Counts Related to Foreign Bribery, Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme

Executive Allegedly Paid Bribes to a Russian Official So His Company Could Win Highly Sensitive Nuclear Fuel Transportation Contracts

An indictment against a former co-president of a Maryland-based transportation company that provides services for the transportation of nuclear materials to customers in the United States and abroad, was unsealed today for his alleged role in a scheme that involved the bribery of an official at a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen M. Schenning of the District of Maryland, Principal Deputy Inspector General April G. Stephenson of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General (DOE-OIG) and Assistant Director in Charge Andew W. Vale of the FBI’s Washington, D.C. Field Office made the announcement.

Mark Lambert, 54, of Mount Airy, Maryland, was charged in an 11-count indictment with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to commit wire fraud, seven counts of violating the FCPA, two counts of wire fraud and one count of international promotion money laundering.  The charges stem from an alleged scheme to bribe Vadim Mikerin, a Russian official at JSC Techsnabexport (TENEX), a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation and the sole supplier and exporter of Russian Federation uranium and uranium enrichment services to nuclear power companies worldwide, in order to secure contracts with TENEX.

The case against Lambert is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Theodore D. Chuang of the District of Maryland.

According to the indictment, beginning at least as early as 2009 and continuing until October 2014, Lambert conspired with others at “Transportation Corporation A” to make corrupt and fraudulent bribery and kickback payments to offshore bank accounts associated with shell companies, at the direction of, and for the benefit of, a Russian official, Vadim Mikerin, in order to secure improper business advantages and obtain and retain business with TENEX.   In order to effectuate and conceal the corrupt and fraudulent bribe payments, Lambert and others allegedly caused fake invoices to be prepared, purportedly from TENEX to Transportation Corporation A, that described services that were never provided, and then Lambert and others caused Transportation Corporation A to wire the corrupt payments for those purported services to shell companies in Latvia, Cyprus and Switzerland.  Lambert and others also allegedly used code words like “lucky figures,” “LF,” “lucky numbers,” and “cake” to describe the payments in emails to the Russian official at his personal email account.  The indictment also alleges that Lambert and others caused Transportation Corporation A to overbill TENEX by building the cost of the corrupt payments into their invoices, and TENEX thus overpaid for Transportation Corporation A’s services.

In June 2015, Lambert’s former co-president, Daren Condrey, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA and commit wire fraud, and Vadim Mikerin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering involving violations of the FCPA.  Mikerin is currently serving a sentence of 48 months in prison and Condrey is awaiting sentencing.  The indictment includes allegations against Lambert based on his role in effectuating the criminal scheme with Condrey, Mikerin, and others.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by DOE-OIG and the FBI.  Assistant Chiefs Ephraim Wernick and Christopher J. Cestaro and Trial Attorney Derek J. Ettinger of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys David I. Salem and Michael T. Packard of the District of Maryland, are prosecuting the case.

The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs has provided significant assistance in this matter.  The Department also thanks its law enforcement colleagues in Switzerland, Latvia and Cyprus for providing valuable assistance with the investigation and prosecution of the case.

The Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting all FCPA matters.  Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa.

Topic(s):
Foreign Corruption
Component(s):
Criminal Division
USAO – Maryland
Press Release Number:
18-34

UN Declaration, Regular, Constant Global Migration = Insurgency

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Berlin – A new series launched by the Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) of IOM, the UN Migration Agency, aims to summarize the existing evidence on migration in an accurate and accessible fashion, to support discussions and any follow-up activities of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

Note the words orderly and regular….if the United Nations and peacekeeping operations as well as the aid, education, construction and protection campaigns were successful, migration would not be required especially in non-war torn countries. Right? Or how about all these other global human interest organizations….they failing too? Those like the Clinton Foundation or hey how about the Gates Foundation, which is a private foundation founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It was launched in 2000 and is said to be the largest private foundation in the US, holding $38 billion in assets, improving lives from Seattle to South Africa….ahem.

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Check here for the largest 10 organizations…. if all this work and money and resources were effective, then why the migration at all?

More here.

The New York Declaration

For the first time on 19 September 2016 Heads of State and Government came together to discuss, at the global level within the UN General Assembly, issues related to migration and refugees. This sent an important political message that migration and refugee matters have become major issues in the international agenda. In adopting the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, the 193 UN Member States recognized the need for a comprehensive approach to human mobility and enhanced cooperation at the global level.

What are the aims of the global compact for migration?

The global compact is framed consistent with target 10.7 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in which member States committed to cooperate internationally to facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration and its scope is defined in Annex II of the New York Declaration. It is intended to:

  • address all aspects of international migration, including the humanitarian, developmental, human rights-related and other aspects;
  • make an important contribution to global governance and enhance coordination on international migration;
  • present a framework for comprehensive international cooperation on migrants and human mobility;
  • set out a range of actionable commitments, means of implementation and a framework for follow-up and review among Member States regarding international migration in all its dimensions;
  • be guided by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda; and
  • be informed by the Declaration of the 2013 High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development.

The development of the global compact for migration – an open, transparent and inclusive process

The Modalities Resolution for the intergovernmental negotiations of the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration outline the key elements and timeline of the process. The global compact will be developed through an open, transparent and inclusive process of consultations and negotiations and the effective participation of all relevant stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, academic institutions, parliaments, diaspora communities, and migrant organizations in both the intergovernmental conference and its preparatory process.