Data Proves Chicago Most Corrupt City

Not like we did not already know that but actually it is worse than you think. This report comes from the University of Illinois at Chicago….ruh roh. Remember that Chicago and Los Angeles mayors are Democrats….oh yeah….Barack Obama lists Chicago as his hometown…but he never really goes there and there is corruption all over his presidential library too.

Chicago alderman convicted of corruption - Chicago Tribune

With matters like the conspiracy of the Olympics in Chicago and the whole Tony Rezko thing…the beat goes on…..

Oh yeah, just for fun, you may want to read up on Operation Greylord,  corruption in the Cook County judicial system…..

Along with Chicago, Los Angeles topped the list of the most public corruption convictions in America, based on the number of federal corruption convictions between 1976 and 2017. Chicago had 1,731 convictions during that time period, while the Central District of California had 1,534. The Manhattan area had 1,327 and Miami had 1,165, according to the report. Washington, D.C. had 1,159.

Drawing information from the Department of Justice, the report shows 25 public figures were convicted of charges tied to corruption in 2017 in the City of Chicago and the northern third of Illinois. 2017 was the most recent year for which the DOJ data was available, the report says.

More than 30 Chicago City Council members have been tied to corruption cases since the 1970’s, with Ald. Edward Burke (14th) becoming the latest Chicago politician to make headlines after being charged with one count of attempted extortion on Thursday, Jan. 3 for allegedly trying to use his power on the City Council to solicit business for his private law firm.

The charge against Burke, Chicago’s most powerful and longest-running City Council member, comes on the heels of two FBI raids carried out in his offices late last year. After serving the city’s Southwest Side for 50 years, the charge puts Burke on the ever-growing list of disgraced city officials.

Although Chicago accounts for 82 percent of the state’s public corruption convictions, according to the report, federal corruption is a statewide problem.

Statewide, Illinois ranked–on a per capita basis–as the third most corrupt state in America. In 2017, the state had 34 convictions for public corruption.

California, Florida, New York and Texas all had more public convictions than Illinois, but those states have much larger populations so they ranked lower on a per capita basis.

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In a February 5th, 2018, an article in the New York Times, the newspaper included Chicago among “Four of America’s largest cities (that) are under the dark clouds of major federal corruption investigations. Residents, politicians, and power brokers in all of them are holding their breath, waiting for signs of how deeply their civic cultures will be shaken.” The Times article, written by Richard Fausset, Monica Davey and Tim Arango, states that the investigations in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia raise questions about “whether there can be any lasting cure for the chronic corruption.

Read the report(s) here.

 

Yup, Iran/Hezbollah Really is in Venezuela

Primer:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military is prepared to protect U.S. personnel and diplomatic facilities in Venezuela if needed, the U.S. admiral in charge of American forces in South America said on Thursday.

“We are prepared to protect U.S. personnel and diplomatic facilities if necessary,” Navy Admiral Craig Faller, the head of U.S. Southern Command, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

He did not provide any details on how the U.S. military might respond.

Elliott Abrams, Washington’s special envoy on Venezuela, said the aid effort was being coordinated with Guaido’s team but that the aid would not be forced into Venezuela.

“Let it in, that’s what we’re asking, let it in,” Abrams told reporters at a State Department briefing, calling on members of Venezuela’s armed forces to persuade Maduro to step down or to disobey his orders.

He said the supplies would be delivered to Venezuelans when it was “logistically safe” to do so.

The Latest: Venezuelan man urges military to let in US aid ...

Meanwhile:

Ghazi Nasr Al-Din fundraisers for and with Hezbollah. He also is a player in operational issues which includes a Hizbollah community center and operations office in Venezuela. He speaks Arabic and Spanish. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, he has been on the FBI Most Wanted List for several years.

Al Din along with Fawzi Kan’an are based in Venezuela and have been since at least 2008.

GHAZI NASR AL DIN

Ghazi Nasr al Din is a Venezuela-based Hizballah supporter who has utilized his position as a Venezuelan diplomat and the president of a Caracas-based Shi’a Islamic Center to provide financial support to Hizballah. Nasr al Din served until recently as Charge d’ Affaires at the Venezuelan Embassy in Damascus, Syria, and was subsequently appointed the Director of Political Aspects at the Venezuelan Embassy in Lebanon.

Nasr al Din has counseled Hizballah donors on fundraising efforts and has provided donors with specific information on bank accounts where the donors’ deposits would go directly to Hizballah.

Ghazi Nasr al Din has met with senior Hizballah officials in Lebanon to discuss operational issues, as well as facilitated the travel of Hizballah members to and from Venezuela. In late January 2006, Nasr al Din facilitated the travel of two Hizballah representatives to the Lebanese Parliament to Caracas to solicit donations for Hizballah and to announce the opening of a Hizballah-sponsored community center and office in Venezuela. The previous year, Nasr al Din arranged the travel of Hizballah members to attend a training course in Iran.

AKAs: Haj Ghazi Nasseredine

Ghazi Nassereddine

Gazi Nasseridine

Gazi Nasser El-Din

Ghazil Nasser Al-Din

Haj Ghazzi Nassereddine

Ghassan Attef Salame Nasserddine

Ghassan Nasr El Din Ghassan

Ghazi Nasserddine

Ghazi `Atef Nasraldine

Atef Salameh Nasserdine Ghasan

Hajj Ghazi `Atif Nasr al-Din

Venezuelan Cedula: 18.190.527

Venezuelan Passport: B-0472561

DOB: 13DEC 1962

POB: Lebanon

FAWZI KAN’AN

Fawzi Kan’an is a Venezuela-based Hizballah supporter and a significant provider of financial support to Hizballah. Kan’an has facilitated travel for Hizballah members and sent money raised in Venezuela to Hizballah officials in Lebanon.

Kan’an has met with senior Hizballah officials in Lebanon to discuss operational issues, including possible kidnappings and terrorist attacks. Further, Kan’an has also traveled with other Hizballah members to Iran for training.

 

AKAs: Fazi Canaan

Faouzi Can’an

Fouzi Kanan

Fauzi Kanaan

Fawzi Kan’an

Fauzi Ganan

Maustaf Fawzi (Faouzi) Kanaan

DOB1: 7 June 1943
DOB 2: February 1943
DOB3: l June l943
POB 1: Lebanon
POB 2: Baalbeck, Lebanon
POB 3: Betechelida, Lebanon
Passport no: 0877677
Nationality: Venezuelan (Naturalized)
Naturalization no.: 2108, 16 December 1977
Identification no: V-6.919.272
Residence 1: Calle 2, Residencias Cosmos, Fifth Floor, Apartment 5D,
La Urbina Caracas, Venezuela
Residence 2: Esquina Bucare, Building 703, Second Floor, Apartment 20
Caracas, Venezuela

BIBLOS TRAVEL AGENCY

Biblos Travel Agency is a Venezuela-based travel agency owned and operated by Fawzi Kan’an, which he has used to courier funds to Lebanon.

 

AKAs: Biblios Travel
Biblos Travel CA
Biblos Travel, C.A.
Location: Avenida Baralt, Esquina Maderero, Edificio Santa Isabel II,
PB, Loc. 1 Caracas, Venezuela

HILAL TRAVEL AGENCY

 

Formed in April 2001, Hilal Travel Agency is a Venezuela-based travel agency owned and operated by Fawzi Kan’an.

 

AKAs: Hilal Travel C.A.
Address: Avenida Baralt, Esquina Maderero, Edificio Santa Isabel
Caracas, Venezuela
Business ID no.: 80074366

Shall we go back to 2011?

A recent New York Times front-page article (December 14, 2011) revealed the extensive and intricate connections between Hezbollah and South American cocaine trafficking. Far from being the passive beneficiaries of drug-trafficking expats and sympathizers, Hezbollah has high-level officials directly involved in the South American cocaine trade and its most violent cartels, including the Mexican gang Los Zetas. The “Party of God’s” increasing foothold in the cocaine trade is facilitated by an enormous Lebanese diaspora. As I wrote in my May 2011 e-note, in 2005, six million Muslims were estimated to inhabit Latin American cities. However, ungoverned areas, primarily in the Amazon regions of Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, present easily exploitable terrain over which to move people and material. The Free Trade Zones of Iquique, Chile; Maicao, Colombia; and Colón, Panama, can generate undetected financial and logistical support for terrorist groups. Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru offer cocaine as a lucrative source of income. In addition, Cuba and Venezuela have cooperative agreements with Syria, Libya, and Iran.

Some shocking revelations into the global interconnectedness of Latin American governments and Middle Eastern terrorist groups have come from Walid Makled, Venezuela’s latter-day Pablo Escobar, who was arrested on August 19, 2010 in Cúcuta, a town on the Venezuelan-Colombian border. A Venezuelan of Syrian descent known variously as “El Turco” (“The Turk”) or “El Arabe” (“The Arab”), he is allegedly responsible for smuggling 10 tons of cocaine a month into the US and Europe—a full 10 percent of the world’s supply and 60 percent of Europe’s supply. His massive infrastructure and distribution network make this entirely plausible, as well as entirely implausible the Venezuelan government did not know. Makled owned Venezuela’s biggest airline, Aeropostal, huge warehouses in Venezuela’s biggest port, Puerto Cabello, and bought enormous quantities of urea (used in cocaine processing) from a government-owned chemical company.

After his arrest and incarceration in the Colombian prison La Picota, Makled gave numerous interviews to various media outlets. When asked on camera by a Univisión television reporter whether he had any relation to the FARC, he answered: “That is what I would say to the American prosecutor.” Asked directly whether he knew of Hezbollah operations in Venezuela, he answered: “In Venezuela? Of course! That which I understand is that they work in Venezuela. [Hezbollah] make money and all of that money they send to the Middle East.” A prime example of the importance of the Lebanese diaspora in triangulating amongst South American cocaine and Middle Eastern terrorists, is Ayman Joumaa, a Sunni Muslim of the Medellín cartel with deep ties with Shiites in the Hezbollah strongholds of southern Lebanon. His indictment made public on Tuesday “charges him with coordinating shipments of Colombian cocaine to Los Zetas in Mexico for sale in the United States, and laundering the proceeds” (NY Times, Dec. 14, 2011).

The growing routes linking South American cocaine to Middle Eastern terrorists are primarily from Colombia through Venezuela. According to an April 2011 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the most prominent country of origin for direct cocaine shipments to Europe, with the cocaine coming mainly from Colombia, primarily the FARC and ELN terrorist groups. Shipments to Africa, mostly West Africa, gained in importance between 2004 and 2007, resulting in the emergence of a new key trans-shipment hub: centered on Guinea-Bissau and Guinea, stretching to Cape Verde, The Gambia and Senegal, thus complementing the already existing trafficking hub of the Bight of Benin, which spans from Ghana to Nigeria. As the cocaine is transported through Africa and into Europe, its safe passage is guaranteed (much as it was in Latin America) by terrorist groups—most prominently, Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. The cocaine can also travel from Latin America’s Tri‐Border Area (TBA)—bounded by Puerto Iguazu, Argentina; Ciudad del Este, Paraguay; and Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil—to West Africa (particularly Benin, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, with its poor governance and vast archipelagos) and then north into Europe through Portugal and Spain or east via Syria and Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s traditional continental home has been the TBA, where a large, active Arab and Muslim community consisting of a Shi’a majority, a Sunni minority, and a small population of Christians who emigrated from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and the Palestinian territories about 50 years ago. The TBA, South America’s busiest contraband and smuggling center, has long been an ideal breeding ground for terrorist groups, including Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda—the latter since 1995 when Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad first visited.

Hezbollah is still active in the TBA, according to Argentine officials. They maintain that with Iran’s assistance, Hezbollah carried out a car‐bomb attack on the main building of the Jewish Community Center (AMIA) in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, protesting the Israeli‐Jordanian peace agreement that year. Today, one of the masterminds of those attacks, the Iranian citizen and Shia Muslim teacher, Mohsen Rabbani, remains not only at large, but extremely active in recruiting young Brazilians, according to reports in Brazilian magazine Veja. This region, the third in the world for cash transactions (behind Hong Kong and Miami), continues to be an epicenter for the conversion and recruitment of a new generation of terrorists who then train in the Middle East and pursue their activities both there and in the Americas.

According to Lebanon’s drug enforcement chief, Col. Adel Mashmoushi, as cited in The New York Times, a main transportation route for terrorists, cash and drugs was aboard a flight commonly referred to as “Aeroterror,” about which I wrote in my May 2011 e-note for FPRI. According to my own secret sources within the Venezuelan government, the flight had the route Tehran-Damascus-Caracas-Madrid, where it would wait for 15 days, and flew under the direct orders of the Venezuelan Vice-President, according to the captain. The flight would leave Caracas seemingly empty (though now it appears it carried a cargo of cocaine) and returned full of Iranians, who boarded the flight in Damascus, where they arrived by bus from Tehran. The Iranian ambassador in Caracas would then distribute the new arrivals all over Venezuela.smilelaugh

Senator Sasse v. Congressman Schiff?

Quid pro quo…

As Congressman Adam Schiff has announced a restart to all investigations into Trump’s business empire, Senator Sasse launched his own.

So, what is Senator Sasse doing?

Senate Judiciary Cmte. member Sasse says the US Justice Dept. has opened an investigation into allegations that dept. attorneys “may have committed professional misconduct in the manner in which the [Jeffrey] Epstein criminal matter was resolved.”

It seems as the Mueller team investigation is in the last lap, Adam Schiff has postured to own a political tribunal where the Mueller operation did not go.

Could it be that the interim AG at the Justice Department has laid the groundwork for the soon to be confirmed AG, Bob Barr to begin to right some previous wrongs and Jeffrey Epstein is the first of many?

The Office of Professional Responsibility has launched a probe into how Jeffrey Epstein got his plea deal. It is all going to get nasty.

As a primer:

On a muggy October morning in 2007, Miami’s top federal prosecutor, Alexander Acosta, had a breakfast appointment with a former colleague, Washington, D.C., attorney Jay Lefkowitz.

It was an unusual meeting for the then-38-year-old prosecutor, a rising Republican star who had served in several White House posts before being named U.S. attorney in Miami by President George W. Bush.

Instead of meeting at the prosecutor’s Miami headquarters, the two men — both with professional roots in the prestigious Washington law firm of Kirkland & Ellis — convened at the Marriott in West Palm Beach, about 70 miles away. For Lefkowitz, 44, a U.S. special envoy to North Korea and corporate lawyer, the meeting was critical.

His client, Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, 54, was accused of assembling a large, cult-like network of underage girls — with the help of young female recruiters — to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day, the Town of Palm Beach police found. Go here for the full story published by the Miami Herald last November.

Political warfare is here and will remain until 2020. This is how things go inside the Beltway….sigh

 

USA Trade Deal with China Pivots on Huawei

Could it be that the Trump administration has the ace-in-the-hole when it comes to forcing the hand of China? Could it be that China is finally caught due to Huawei?

How Meng Wanzhou’s ‘P’ passport works | The Star

There is a 13-count indictment against the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, alleging the company took part in a long-running scheme in which it deceived the U.S. government about its business dealings with Iran.

Could it be that European countries that are pressing to stay in the JCPOA deal with Iran could eventually be implicated as well?

Huawei-et-al.-Press-Release-(1)

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – A 13-count indictment was unsealed earlier today in federal
court in Brooklyn, New York, charging four defendants, all of whom are affiliated with
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (Huawei), the world’s largest telecommunications equipment
manufacturer, with headquarters in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and operations
around the world. The indicted defendants include Huawei and two Huawei subsidiaries
Huawei Device USA Inc. (Huawei USA) and Skycom Tech Co. Ltd. (Skycom) —
as well as Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Wanzhou Meng (Meng).
The defendants Huawei and Skycom are charged with bank fraud and conspiracy
to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to
defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate and substantive violations of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), and conspiracy to commit
money laundering. Huawei and Huawei USA are charged with conspiracy to obstruct
justice related to the Grand Jury investigation in the Eastern District of New York. Meng
is charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.
“As charged in the indictment, Huawei and its subsidiaries, with the direct and
personal involvement of their executives, engaged in serious fraudulent conduct,
including conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, sanctions violations, money laundering and
the orchestrated obstruction of justice,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “For
over a decade, Huawei employed a strategy of lies and deceit to conduct and grow its
business. This Office will continue to hold accountable companies and their executives,
whether here or abroad, that commit fraud against U.S. financial institutions and their
international counterparts and violate U.S. laws designed to maintain our national
security.” Mr. Donoghue thanked the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Export Enforcement and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service agents who are
investigating this case for their tireless work and dedication.
“These charges lay bare Huawei’s blatant disregard for the laws of our country
and standard global business practices,” stated FBI Director Wray.
“Companies like Huawei pose a dual threat to both our economic and national security, and the magnitude of these charges make clear just how seriously the FBI takes this threat. Today should serve as a warning that we will not tolerate businesses that violate our laws, obstruct justice, or jeopardize national and economic well-being.”
“As charged in the indictment, Huawei and its Chief Financial Officer broke U.S.
law and have engaged in a fraudulent financial scheme that is detrimental to the security
of the United States,” stated U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen.
“They willfully conducted millions of dollars in transactions that were in direct violation
of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, and such behavior will not be
tolerated. The Department of Homeland Security is focused on preventing nefarious
actors from accessing or manipulating our financial system, and we will ensure that
legitimate economic activity is not exploited by our adversaries. I would like to thank
ICE Homeland Security Investigations for their exceptional work on this case.”
“For years, Chinese firms have broken our export laws and undermined sanctions,
often using the U.S. financial systems to facilitate their illegal activities,” stated U.S.
Department of Commerce Secretary Ross.
Do you kinda wonder as I do how long this was going on actually and what did the Obama Justice Department do?    NUTTIN  it seems.
***

(Reuters) – Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Canada and faces possible extradition to the United States, is exploring a defense that claims U.S. charges against her are politically motivated, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Monday.

Meng, the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, is the central figure in a high-stakes dispute between the United States and China. Canada arrested Meng in December at the request of the United States and last month she was charged with wire fraud that violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.

“The political overlay of this case is remarkable,” Richard Peck, lead counsel for Meng, told the Toronto newspaper in a telephone interview.

“That’s probably the one thing that sets it apart from any other extradition case I’ve ever seen. It’s got this cloud of politicization hanging over it,” Peck added.

Dog Alerted to the Largest Fentanyl Bust Ever

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The driver was enrolled in the FAST program, a trusted travel program for truck drivers. This program also applies to drivers from Canada. The drivers must have a clean record with regard to immigration, law enforcement and customs.Perhaps using Presidential authority, Trump should suspend this program until such time Nancy and Chuck negotiate in good faith as she pledged when government reopened.
The truck itself was carrying cucumbers and the vehicle had a false floor under which during a secondary inspection, the dog alerted. The truck went through a massive x-ray machine. The fentanyl coming from Mexico however while lethal is not as lethal as that coming from China.
Just a few grains of fentanyl can put a person into a coma. Fentanyl should be declared a chemical agent of mass destruction. Question is why has this not been done? The other question is who was this driver working for and who owned the truck? There are more details that need to be released.
Meanwhile you have to ask if the Democrats are reading CBP press releases like this one: