Category Archives: FBI

Why Florida AG Pam Bondi Supports Trump…

Posted on by

Thanks to Sunlight Foundation who does remarkable work.

Donald Trump’s history of paying to sway attorneys general

by  
Donald Trump speaking at a rally
Donald Trump in Reno, Nevada. (Photo credit: Darron Birgenheier/Flickr)

Donald Trump defends his past political donations as a means to further his business endeavors. He frames his contributions as good business. What better way to close such loopholes than to elect someone who knew how to exploit them best?

“I was a businessman, I give to everybody,” Trump said at the first Republican debate. “When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them, and they are there for me.”

Questions about Trump University

In March of this year, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the IRS against the Donald Trump Foundation, alleging it violated its tax status. The foundation, a 501(c)(3) that is barred from political activities, donated $25,000 to “And Justice for All,” a 527 political organization associated with supporting Florida GOP Attorney General Pam Bondi’s re-election.

In 2013, the Florida Attorney General’s Office — led by Bondi — reportedly contemplated suing Trump University alongside New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a multi-state lawsuit over complaints by former students. Three days after the Orlando Sentinel wrote about the Floridians who felt scammed by Trump University, the Trump Foundation contributed money to And Justice for All. And just days after that, Bondi rescinded the investigation, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.

Trump University now connotes a Ponzi scheme more than an educational institution. Due to the inflated tuition, former employees labeling the school as a “scheme” or a “lie” and a lack of return on investment for the students, the university is now mired in controversy. Some former students say the system was a con and many claim the classes they enrolled in were either worthless or nonexistent. The Better Business Bureau gave Trump University a D-minus in 2010.

Take the state of Texas as an example: According to the Dallas Morning News, “267 Texans paid more than $425,000 to attend Trump University’s three-day seminar, 39 purchased Trump’s “Gold Elite” package of additional classes and other perks costing $35,000 each, and 150 others spent more than $826,000 on other goods and services.”

The Orlando Sentinel obtained 8,491 documents from Bondi’s office which detailed her staff urging those affected by Trump University to hire their own attorneys if they wanted their money back – deflecting any need for her office to take action.

“Visit an Internet search engine such as http://www.yahoo.com or http://www.google.com to search for information on any class action lawsuits you may benefit from,” according to page 5,449 of Bondi’s document dump. Several discrepancies were made by Bondi’s staff, including the number of complaints received (her office originally said they only received one complaint) and a lack of effort to investigate the claims.

While Trump never detailed his motivations for the political donations, he called Bondi “a fabulous representative of the people” and Schneiderman, who didn’t back down from the suit, “a political hack.” While Schneiderman recently decried Trump University as an example of “straight-up fraud,” he still received $12,500 from Trump six years ago.

Bondi now says she personally solicited the money from Trump after complaints to her office had been filed. If this is the case, then it seems plausible to view Florida’s decision not to investigate Trump University as a possible quid pro quo exchange.

CREW recently issued a statement doubling down. “Attorney General Bondi’s admission that she personally solicited a donation from Donald Trump directly contradicts the Trump camp’s version of events. … This reaffirms the need for an immediate and thorough investigation.”

Spitzer, Cuomo, Pirro took Trump cash

Map of state contributions
Trump’s political donations to state candidates top $800,000 in nearly 15 states. Graphic credit: National Institute on Money in State Politics)

Bondi’s not the only attorney general who’s received Trump’s money. According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, Trump collectively gave to attorneys general nine times in Florida, California and New York for a total of $134,015.

  • 1998
    • Dennis Vacco, R-N.Y., $27,965
  • 2002
    • Eliot Spitzer, D-N.Y., $11,000 Spitzer resigned one year after serving as governor of New York in 2008
  • 2006
    • Walter Campbell Jr., D-Calif., $1,000
    • Edmund Brown Jr., D-Calif., $1,000 Brown now serves as the governor of California
    • Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., $20,000 Cuomo now serves as the governor of New York
    • Jeanine Pirro, R-N.Y., $10,000 Pirro is currently a television personality on Fox News
  • 2010
    • Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., $19,050 Rice now serves as Representative to New York’s 4th district
    • Eric Schneiderman, D-N.Y., $12,500
    • Daniel Donovan, R-N.Y., $5,000 Donovan now serves as Representative to New York’s 11th district
  • 2014
    • Pamela Bondi, R-Fla., $500
    • Kamala Harris, D-Calif., $6,000
    • John Cahill, R-N.Y., $20,000

Current Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, investigated Trump University when Abbott served as Texas attorney general. After Abbott dropped the investigation, Trump donated $35,000 to his gubernatorial campaign.

According to The Huffington Post, former Deputy Chief of Consumer Protection John Owens, who worked closely with the Trump University investigation, called the probe “an extremely strong case” — only to have the case dropped.

Abbott’s successor, Ken Paxton (who remains in the spotlight for a number of other fraudulent charges), issued a cease-and-desist letter to Owens after he made copies of a 14-page internal summary detailing Trump University scamming millions of dollars from Texas students. “The decision not to sue was political,” Owens later told the Dallas Morning News. The scheduled meeting between Texas officials and Trump representatives for the $5.4 million settlement never even occurred.

Larger legal issues

501(c)(3) charitable organizations, such as the Donald Trump Foundation, are barred from any and all political activities. In exchange, they are tax exempt from the IRS. 527 organizations, such as Bondi’s And Justice for All group, are vehicles specifically for political activities.

A larger problem, aside from the illegal donations, is linking attorneys general (which are elected officials in 43 states) to lobbyists, gifts and other forms of non-quid pro quo arrangements, more or less, blatant bribes. Attorneys general are essentially the main legal advisor to the government, issuing formal opinions to state agencies, proposing legislation, instituting civil suits on behalf of the state and representing the public’s interests in charitable trust and solicitations.

Whether or not the two cases of Bondi and Abbott are illegal, the dubious timing of the donations and their actions to halt their investigations give off the appearance of a quid pro quo arrangement. These officials are voted by their constituents and are responsible for representing the public. Their interests should never be questioned.

Both Bondi and Abbott have endorsed Donald Trump for president.

Terror at the Olympics in Brazil?

Posted on by

Brazil police arrest 10 men pleading ISIS allegiance, search for two more

WashingtonTimes: RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)— Federal police in Brazil have ordered the detention of 12 people who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group via social media.

Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes told journalists in Brasilia on Thursday that 10 had been arrested and two more were being sought.

Moraes says police acted because the group had been discussing the use of weapons and guerrilla tactics to potentially launch an attack during the Olympics, which begin Aug. 5.

The arrests were made in the southern states of Sao Paulo and Parana. Moraes says there were no specific targets for attack.

Last week, Brazil’s interim government’s top military aide said the concerns with terrorism had “reached a higher level” after the attacks of six days ago in Nice, France.

Previously, this website predicted these conditions at the Olympics.

****

In part from the NYT’s: The Federal Police said in a statement that the suspects belonged to a group called the Defenders of Sharia. Agents from an antiterrorism unit are investigating the group’s activities in the several states, including Rio de Janeiro, where the Games will take place.

In part from the NewYorkDailyNews: The arrests were made in 10 different states, including Sao Paulo and Parana in the southern part of the country, and it was not clear whether the suspects knew each other beyond their online contacts. Moraes said there were no specific targets for an attack.

Moraes said they had all been “baptized” as Islamic State sympathizers online and that none had actually traveled to Syria or Iraq, the group’s stronghold, or received any training. Several were allegedly trying to secure financing from the group, known by the acronym ISIS.

The justice minister added that one of the suspects communicated with a Brazilian store in an alleged attempt to by an AK-47  assault rifle, apparently the most concrete action taken toward a possible attack.

Last week, Brazil’s interim government’s top military aide said the concerns with terrorism had “reached a higher level” after the attacks of six days ago in Nice, France.

Looking Ahead to the Democrat Convention

Posted on by

Want to know how to hunt #DonkeysAroundTown? << — No Joke, go here for the rules of the contest.

NYT’s: The Democratic convention, which begins in Philadelphia on July 25, will start with speeches from Michelle Obama, the first lady, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who competed against Hillary Clinton for the nomination and endorsed her last week. Also speaking on the first night will be Astrid Silva, a Mexican immigrant and young so-called “Dreamer” who benefited from President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, policy.

The focus of the convention will then shift to families and criminal justice overhaul on its second night, which will feature a speech by former President Bill Clinton. He will be joined by the mothers of police-related violence victims, including Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.

On Wednesday, Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will make the case for why Mrs. Clinton should take the baton from their administration. Finally, Mrs. Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, will address the delegates on Thursday night. More here.

***** For a photo tour of the movements included in the platform meetings, go here….any familiar faces or causes?

BOSTON (AP) – A Kennedy is being added to the list of speakers at the Democratic National Convention.

Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy III said Wednesday he was approached by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren about speaking before she’s expected to speak Monday, the first night of the convention in Philadelphia.

Warren has been vetted as a possible running mate for presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

As you read below…..what is missing?
Day 1 of the Orlando Sector meeting

***** Meanwhile the draft of the party platform is outlined below:

2016 Democratic Party Platform DRAFT July 1, 2016

***DRAFT – DELIBERATIVE AND PREDECISIONAL***

Version July 1, 2016 ii

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preamble ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1

Raise Incomes and Restore Economic Security for the Middle Class……………………………….. 3

Minimum Wage ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Labor …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3

Equal Pay, Paid Leave, and Caregiving ………………………………………………………………………….. 4

Housing ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4

Social Security ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5

Retirement Security……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

Postal Service ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

Create Good-Paying Jobs ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6

Infrastructure ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6

Manufacturing …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6

Clean Energy Jobs……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7

Research, Science, and Technology……………………………………………………………………………….. 7

Small Business ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7

Youth Jobs………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7

Fight for Economic Fairness and Against Inequality ………………………………………………………. 8

Fixing our Financial System …………………………………………………………………………………………. 8

Stopping Corporate Concentration ………………………………………………………………………………… 9

Taxes …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9

Trade …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9

Bring Americans Together and Remove Barriers to Create Ladders of Opportunity …….. 10

Racial Justice…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10

Racial Wealth Gap …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11

Criminal Justice…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11

Immigration………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12

Civil Rights ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13

LGBT Rights…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13

Disability Rights ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13

Faith and Service……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 14

Agricultural Communities ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 14

Poverty / Communities Left Behind …………………………………………………………………………….. 14

Honoring Indigenous Tribal Nations ……………………………………………………………………………. 14

People of the Territories……………………………………………………………………………………………… 16

Puerto Rico……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 16

***DRAFT – DELIBERATIVE AND PREDECISIONAL***

Version July 1, 2016 iii

 

Protect Voting Rights, Fix Our Campaign Finance System, and Restore Our Democracy 17

Voting Rights ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 17

Campaign Finance……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17

Judges………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 17

D.C. Statehood ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18

Management of Federal Government …………………………………………………………………………… 18

Combat Climate Change, Build a Clean Energy Economy, and Secure Environmental Justice …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 18

Clean Energy Economy ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 19

Environmental and Climate Justice ……………………………………………………………………………… 19

Public Lands and Waters…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 20

Provide Quality and Affordable Education…………………………………………………………………… 20

Higher Education ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 20

Student Debt……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 20

Minority-Serving Institutions………………………………………………………………………………………. 21

For-Profit Schools ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 21

Early Childhood, Pre-K, and K-12 ………………………………………………………………………………. 21

Ensure the Health and Safety of All Americans ……………………………………………………………. 22

Universal Health Care ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 22

Community Health Centers…………………………………………………………………………………………. 23

Prescription Drug Costs ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 23

Medical Research ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 24

Drug and Alcohol Addiction……………………………………………………………………………………….. 24

Mental Health……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 24

Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice ……………………………………………………………………… 24

Public Health…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 25

Violence Against Women and Sexual Assault ………………………………………………………………. 25

Gun Violence Prevention ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 25

Principled Leadership …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 25

Support Our Troops and Keep Faith with Our Veterans ………………………………………………. 26

Confront Global Threats ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 27

Terrorism………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 28

Iran ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 29

North Korea………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 29

Russia ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 29

Cybersecurity ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 29

Non-proliferation ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 30

Climate Change…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 30

***DRAFT – DELIBERATIVE AND PREDECISIONAL***

Version July 1, 2016 iv

 

Protect Our Values………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 30

Women and Girls ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 30

Trafficking and Modern Slavery………………………………………………………………………………….. 31

Young People ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 31

Religious Minorities…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31

Refugees…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31

Civil Society……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31

Anti-Corruption…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 31

Torture……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 32

Closing Guantánamo Bay …………………………………………………………………………………………… 32

Development Assistance …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 32

Global Health ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 32

HIV and AIDS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 32

International Labor…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 32

A Leader in the World…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 33

Asia-Pacific ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 33

Middle East ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 33

Europe ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 34

Americas ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 34

Africa ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 34

Global Economy and Institutions…………………………………………………………………………………. 34

Soros and Black Lives Matters

Posted on by

Soros is a dual citizen of Hungary and the United States and the term sedition comes to mind. But then too there is Barack and Hillary as a protector.

  Related reading: Soros, Gore among W.H. visitors

“George Soros going to bat for Hillary Clinton”.

Politico.  Jump up ^ “Priorities USA Action Contributors, 2016 cycle – OpenSecrets”.

Rush Limbaugh Exposes Who’s Funding Black Lives Matter Anti-Cop Protests

Who the heck is funding Black Lives Matter’s protests?

That’s a question many of us have often wondered. Who has time to protest for days on end in the streets, blocking off highways, among other activities? I’d resort to my default explanation, that they’re all unemployed with nothing better to do, but there are so many of them. Someone must be paying them to protest.

 

A caller into Rush Limbaugh’s show the other day posed that question, and he had an answer that probably won’t surprise you. To quote:

RUSH: The largest benefactor of Black Lives Matter is George Soros.

CALLER: Yes, sir.

RUSH: You know what that is?

CALLER: I do.

RUSH: Well, he’s a very extreme, angry and mean-spirited liberal who is doing his best to destroy capitalism wherever it is in the world. And, of course, since we are the greatest, largest capitalist outpost —

CALLER: He wants to collapse this country.

RUSH: Wants to collapse the country, exactly right.  Don’t ask me why.  My ability to understand these people in that sense, I’ve never understood why people want to tear down the greatest economic engine that has ever been, that enables everything they believe. It enables all their welfare benefits. It enables all of their whatever.  I’ve never understood why they want to tear it down, but they do, and George Soros, the amount of money, I was stunned last week, I’ve learned George Soros has given these people $33 million in the last three or four years, $33 million.

CALLER: That’s a drop in the bucket to what’s coming in for Hillary’s campaign.

And he’s right. The Daily Mail reported back in 2015 on Soros’ $33 million in funding of BLM, noting that “Liberal billionaire George Soros donated $33 million to social justice organizations which helped turn events in Ferguson from a local protest into a national flashpoint. The handouts, revealed in tax filings from Soros’s private foundation, were given to dozens of different groups which weighed in on the crisis.”

Snopes rated the claim as “half-true,” acknowledging that Soros funded a network of groups, some of which engaged in Ferguson-related protest activities. They rated “false” the half of the statement about funds going exclusively to fund Ferguson-related protests, but that seems like a minor quibble.

…. And for some bonus entertainment, Donald Trump had a few brief comments about Soros funding BLM back in March.

Related reading: George Soros, Godfather of the Left Gives $550 Million to Liberal Causes

The Baton Rouge Cop Killer Terrorist, Legally Changed his Name

Posted on by

The probability is high that the FBI cultivated this information but due to the saturation point of agents working higher radical and militant people across the country had to prioritize cases. If true and this assessment is accurate, we have a real problem in America and worse a resource problem. Even law enforcement is overwhelmed and data from Fusion Centers may be in question. Nonetheless….here are new facts:

  Courtesy of Heavy    

Baton Rouge Gunman Created Alternate Identity Prior to Shooting

WSJ: Gavin Eugene Long, the gunman who killed three Baton Rouge, La., police officers Sunday, had legally changed his name to Cosmo Setepenra after pledging allegiance to a group of black Americans who claim to be part of a sovereign nation.

Long filed a notice on May 16, 2015, stating that he had joined Washitaw Nation and would change his name to Cosmo Augur Setepenra, according to court documents filed with the Jackson County, Mo., recorder of deeds office.

The declaration that he joined the separatist group had no legal force, but it is evidence that he sympathized with the sovereign-citizens movement, which law-enforcement officials consider to be an extremist threat.

Cosmo is a name that he had also used as his online persona in recent years, according to his tweets and other social-media posts. In a series of rants connected to Cosmo in the weeks before the shooting, Long, who was black, talked of his willingness to die for what he believed was an injustice aimed at him.

Long, 29 years old, was killed by police following Sunday’s shooting.

Police concerns about the sovereign-citizens movement have intensified over the past decade. Law-enforcement officers perceive the sovereign-citizens movement as the top threat, ahead of jihadists, among extremist groups in the U.S., according to a 2013-2014 survey by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

Officers had ranked the movement as the seventh biggest threat in a similar survey published in 2009.

Adherents to the antigovernment sovereign-citizens movement believe the federal government underwent a secret transformation that made slaves of all Americans, according the Southern Law Poverty Center, which has tracked the movement.

The Washitaw Nation is a related group that believes the Louisiana Purchase, in which the U.S. acquired land from France in 1803, was fraudulent. Its members claim to be part of an indigenous culture that rightfully owns the land, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

To join Washitaw Nation, a person needs to file a series of written documents with a local court, or county clerk’s office. Long submitted eight pages of documents into the official record three days after his May 2015 filing. Washitaw Nation isn’t a Native American tribe.

Long argued that, under a United Nations statute granting rights to indigenous people, he was giving up his birth name and his allegiance to the U.S., including his Social Security number, to join the group.

The man who fatally shot three police officers in Baton Rouge on Sunday before being killed has been identified as a former Marine sergeant. Mark Kelly reports. Image: AFP

The link between Long and Cosmo is also shown by a website that tracks internet-domain registration. A Gavin Long from Kansas City registered a website called “Convos With Cosmo,” which is very similar to others used for his business dealings and audio and video posts. The website was registered in April.

On July 4, in an audio file posted to one of these sites, “Cosmo” tells the story of joining the Marines in 2005 and then being stationed in Japan and California before an attempt to deploy him to Iraq in 2008. Cosmo said he was a data-network specialist, which he said made him responsible for his group’s network.

The Pentagon said Long joined the Marines in 2005 and said he had a similar rotation to the one described above.

Cosmo said the military tried to deploy him to Iraq before all of his gear had arrived from Japan, and he fought the order.

Sovereign citizens deny they are subject to most taxes and many laws. Members of the movement have harassed government officials by filing liens against officials’ property. They have been prosecuted in dozens of tax-avoidance and other financial schemes, according to a research brief by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

People associated with the sovereign-citizens movement have also been linked to the deaths of several law-enforcement officers, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation describing them as part of “domestic terrorist movement.”

Two police officers in West Memphis, Ark., were shot and killed during a 2010 traffic stop by a father and son identified by the Southern Law Poverty Center and the Anti-Defamation League as sovereign citizens. Suspects in the 2012 shooting deaths of two sheriff’s deputies in St. John the Baptist Parish, La., also described themselves as members of the movement.

Long began using the Twitter account “Convos with Cosmo” in October 2015. The account was used primarily for motivational messages, boasts about himself or links to some of his ideas on issues like sex. They took a more militaristic turn in recent weeks, though, following recent police shootings that killed two black men, one in Baton Rouge and another in Minnesota.

On July 8, one day after Micah Johnson killed five law-enforcement officers in Dallas, Cosmo posted a video suggesting that he could do something that would make people speculate about his motivations.

That same day, Long sent an email to 13 people whom he described as his “Peace Family” and told them “that if anything may happen to me or with me, I am NOT affiliated with anybody, any group, nationality, association, religion, corporation, business, etc.”

He said that for him “as a Man (Protector and Provider) (And Spiritual Being) and me knowing my role as a Man, my duties as a Man, and that I determine my destiny and no one else, I am taking this Earth Plane existence day by day and even hour by hour because anything is possible from here on out.”

The email was sent less than 24 hours after the Dallas shooting that killed five law enforcement officers.

The day after the Dallas law-enforcement officials were shot, Cosmo tweeted: “The Shooter was NOT WHITE, He was one of us!”

In his most recent video posted on his YouTube page Thursday, he is in his car, promoting a book and talking about “wanting my people to succeed.” It isn’t clear where the video is set, but he mentions the protests in Baton Rouge and says he wasn’t able to participate.

“I just got here. I came for my people I am not really into the protesting. I do education,” he said, arguing that the protesters will be gone in the next month.

By Sunday night the video had been viewed more than 11,000 times and was filled with hundreds of comments condemning the shootings.

Cosmo claimed that he dropped out of school, sold his cars, gave away his material possessions and packed two suitcases and headed to Africa, a place he called his “ancestral home.”

He posted videos of his journey, including a stay at what he called a “mid-level” guesthouse in Accra, Ghana, in a clip titled “African-Americans this is what Africa really looks like.”

On July 13, six days after the Dallas shooting, he tweeted: “Violence is not THE answer (its a answer), but at what point do you stand up so that your people dont become the Native Americans…EXTINCT?”

His final tweet, sent just hours before the Baton Rouge police officers were killed, suggested he knew that he was about to die as well: “Just bc you wake up every morning doesn’t mean that you’re living. And just bc you shed your physical body doesn’t mean that you’re dead.”

—Jim Oberman contributed to this article