An affordable price is probably the major benefit persuading people to buy drugs at www.americanbestpills.com. The cost of medications in Canadian drugstores is considerably lower than anywhere else simply because the medications here are oriented on international customers. In many cases, you will be able to cut your costs to a great extent and probably even save up a big fortune on your prescription drugs. What's more, pharmacies of Canada offer free-of-charge shipping, which is a convenient addition to all other benefits on offer. Cheap price is especially appealing to those users who are tight on a budget
Service Quality and Reputation
Although some believe that buying online is buying a pig in the poke, it is not. Canadian online pharmacies are excellent sources of information and are open for discussions. There one can read tons of users' feedback, where they share their experience of using a particular pharmacy, say what they like or do not like about the drugs and/or service. Reputable online pharmacy canadianrxon.com take this feedback into consideration and rely on it as a kind of expert advice, which helps them constantly improve they service and ensure that their clients buy safe and effective drugs. Last, but not least is their striving to attract professional doctors. As a result, users can directly contact a qualified doctor and ask whatever questions they have about a particular drug. Most likely, a doctor will ask several questions about the condition, for which the drug is going to be used. Based on this information, he or she will advise to use or not to use this medication.
The LIBERTAD Act, known as the Helms-Burton law as stated in the text, Fidel and Raul Castro cannot be part of the governing structure. Cuba has supported and provided safe haven to members of the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Both are U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). The Obama administration would therefore need to remove ETA and FARC from the FTO list, before removing Cuba from the state-sponsors-of-terrorism list.
The State Department terrorism report also makes references beyond ETA and FARC — most significantly that Cuba harbors several fugitives of U.S. justice. Terrorists, murderers, and other violent criminals are being protected, well fed, and supported by the Communist regime. Among these is a woman convicted of first-degree murder, Joanne Chesimard. Also known as Assata Shakur, she is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list for executing a New Jersey State Police trooper. With the help of the Black Liberation Army, she broke out of prison and found refuge in Cuba. According to the FBI, Chesimard “continues to profess her radical anti-U.S. government ideology.” Read more here from NRO.
Russia may build a large international airport in Cuba with investors from the United Arab Emirates, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in an interview with a newspaper in Abu Dhabi.
Manturov told newspaper The National that Russia is in discussions with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala investment company to invest in building a hub in Cuba for flights to Latin America. Russia is ready to invest $200 million in the project. More here.
For a complete list and timeline of sanctions against Cuba, go here. Most of the sanction activity occurred in 2016 due to the Obama White House normalizing relations with the country, the Castro brothers and appeasing Russia. It must also be noted that Cuba has been propping up Venezuela for many years.
October 10, 2003: In response to a crackdown on human rights by the Castro regime, President George W. Bush announced a measure to tighten sanctions on the country, including increased border inspections of travelers and shipments between the two countries.
May 2009: The Obama administration lifted restrictions on Cuban-Americans traveling and sending money to Cuba, also allowing U.S.-based telecommunications firms to seek business on the island. More here.
Why is any of this important? Who is who and breaking sanctions perhaps via the United Arab Emirates and shadow companies?
Bloomberg: Cuba has only one 18-hole golf course: the government-run Varadero Golf Club, about two hours east of Havana. Built on the 1930s estate of chemicals magnate Irénée du Pont, it was refurbished in the 1990s when the government turned to tourism to bolster its economy after the fall of the Soviet Union. Du Pont’s former residence, Xanadú Mansion, serves as the clubhouse. On the third floor, a wood-and-marble bar offers sweeping views of the Florida Straits.
The course, expanded by Canadian architect Les Furber, is largely flat and littered with palm trees, and the greens fee runs $70. One reviewer described it as “inoffensive golf at its finest.” Yet lining up a putt on the 8th or 18th holes, both of which are right on the azure water, even a duffer can’t miss Cuba’s potential. With fertile soil, plentiful green coastline, and topography that spans plains, rolling hills, and rugged mountains, the island is a golf course architect’s Shangri-La.
On an afternoon late last year, the golfers teeing off included a group of U.S. executives from the Trump Organization, who have the enviable job of flying around the world to identify golf-related opportunities. The company operates 18 courses in four countries, including Scotland and the United Arab Emirates. It would like to add Cuba. Asked on CNN in March if he’d be interested in opening a hotel there, Donald Trump said yes: “I would, I would—at the right time, when we’re allowed to do it. Right now, we’re not.” On July 26 he told Miami’s CBS affiliate, WFOR-TV, that “Cuba would be a good opportunity [but] I think the timing is not right.”
That, however, hasn’t stopped some of his closest aides from traveling to Cuba for years and scouting potential sites and investments. The U.S. trade embargo, first established in 1962, prohibits U.S. citizens from traveling to the island. But over the years, the U.S. has carved out allowances for family visits, journalism, and other social causes. Most commercial activity is still forbidden, though, with a few exceptions, such as selling medical supplies or food. Golf isn’t on that list.
The Varadero Golf Club after its redesign.
Photographer: David Alan Harvey/Magnum Photos
Trump Organization executives and advisers traveled to Havana in late 2012 or early 2013, according to two people familiar with the discussions that took place in Cuba and who spoke on condition of anonymity. Among the company’s more important visitors to Cuba have been Larry Glick, Trump’s executive vice president for strategic development, who oversees golf, and Edward Russo, Trump’s environmental consultant for golf. On later trips, they were joined by Jason Greenblatt, the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, and Ron Lieberman, another Trump golf executive. Glick, Greenblatt, and Lieberman didn’t respond to requests for interviews. Melissa Nathan, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization, declined to answer a list of detailed questions.
In a series of telephone interviews, Russo confirmed he’s traveled to Cuba about a dozen times since 2011. Although he’s spearheading the company’s Cuban golf efforts, according to three people familiar with his role, Russo says these trips haven’t been on behalf of the Trump Organization. He says he’s taken at least one with Glick to go bird-watching and “check out some habitats”—activities that could conceivably qualify for exemptions to the travel ban.
Despite saying his trips with Trump executives were unrelated to the Trump Organization, Russo referred questions about those trips to Eric Trump, the 32-year-old son of the Republican presidential nominee and the company’s executive vice president for development and acquisitions, including golf. “In the last 12 months, many major competitors have sought opportunities in Cuba,” Trump said in an e-mailed statement. “While we are not sure whether Cuba represents an opportunity for us, it is important for us to understand the dynamics of the markets that our competitors are exploring.”
So which was it: a little birding? Keeping an eye on the competition? Maybe neither. According to Antonio Zamora, a well-known Cuban-American lawyer, who says he’s advised the Trump Organization on Cuba for about a decade, he and Russo visited a prospective golf site east of Havana in an area called Bello Monte several years ago.
Russo, Trump’s environmental consultant, enjoys Havana in a photo posted to Facebook in December.
Based in Miami, Zamora took part in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion but is now an outspoken critic of the U.S. sanctions. “An embargo that has been in place by a world power like the United States for 50 years and has not accomplished anything substantial is a disgrace,” Zamora writes in his 2013 book, What I Learned About Cuba By Going To Cuba. “This is not what great powers do.” He advises U.S. investors throughout Latin America. He’s circulated conceptual drawings of a Trump tower in Havana beside refurbished versions of the Hotel Neptuno-Triton, a dilapidated pair of 1970s buildings in the city’s business district, according to a person who saw them. (Zamora denies this.)
Zamora does say that he discussed with the Trump Organization the possibility of teaming up with a foreign company to give Trump a minority position in a venture. He says the deal failed to materialize. Zamora dismisses any legal concerns about this, saying he’s been to Cuba dozens of times for conferences, and that the U.S. Department of the Treasury doesn’t bother with these kinds of trips. “It’s a nonissue,” he says.
Farhad Alavi, managing partner of Akrivis Law Group in Washington and an adviser to companies on U.S. sanctions, says that, before 2015, exploring most potential deals in Cuba was “not even in the realm of what Treasury might have licensed.” He adds that “prior to 2015, a fact-finding trip by a U.S. person for a business activity, like building a golf course or hotel, was prohibited. It’s not under one of the categories of permissible travel to Cuba.”
In January 2015, the Treasury Department broadened an exception for “professional research.” That’s viewed by attorneys to encompass all sorts of potential investment activity—short of signing deals. To finalize an investment in Cuba requires a specific license from Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Marriott each announced in March they’d received authorization. (A Treasury spokeswoman says it is agency policy not to confirm or deny whether specific licenses have been issued.) Russo says the Trump Organization hasn’t secured one.
“Professional research” makes it easier for companies to explore business opportunities in Cuba, but it may not put the Trump Organization in the clear. Golf could be seen as promoting tourism, which remains illegal for U.S. companies. (President Barack Obama can’t change that—the tourism ban cannot be repealed without an act of Congress.) “If the Treasury Department believed that a new golf course in Cuba were intended to attract tourists from outside Cuba, then U.S. persons who meet in Cuba to develop the golf course could be charged with promoting tourism in Cuba,” says Richard Matheny, chair of the national security and foreign trade regulation practice group at Goodwin Procter in Washington. “This is unlawful under the current sanctions.”
“You can’t help but say, ‘Wow, here’s a hotel that could be renovated’
Golf’s history in Cuba is tinged with the absurd. In the 1950s the country staged tournaments that weren’t on the official PGA Tour but still attracted top players. In 1958 famed mobster Meyer Lansky—who’d been deported from the U.S. a decade earlier and was running a number of successful casinos in Cuba—set out to build the greatest hotel Havana had ever seen and further showcase the sport. With backing from Frank Sinatra, his Monte Carlo de La Habana was to feature a casino, a helicopter landing pad, and several glorious courses.
Lansky’s timing was spectacularly bad. A few weeks after construction started, Fidel Castro began his final rebel offensive against Cuba’s president, General Fulgencio Batista. On New Year’s Eve, Batista fled to the Dominican Republic. Castro rolled into Havana a few days later, and Lansky soon halted work. Castro declared golf “a game of the idle rich and exploiters of the people” and plowed over almost all the island’s courses. Even so, a series of early 1960s photographs shows Castro and his fellow revolutionary Che Guevara hamming it up with golf clubs. Castro was a baseball player, but Che took up golf as a young man and was rumored to have a 4 handicap. Last year a Cuban composer and an American librettist staged an opera in Havana based in part on those photos.
Guevara (left) and Castro (third from right) get in a round—and a photo op—in the early 1960s.
Photographer: Carlos Nunez/Prensa Latina/AP Photo
These days, Cuban officials actively promote golf development. A 200-page brochure published by the government late last year, Portfolio of Opportunities for Foreign Investment, features three hoped-for golf developments around the island, including two under contract with British and Chinese developers. The government also reportedly has a deal with Spanish airline Air Europa to develop a hotel and golf course at Playa El Salado, about 25 miles west of Havana. The Trump Organization has a particular interest in that development, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Although it’s not clear if Donald Trump is aware of his aides’ activities in Cuba—he didn’t return phone calls for this article—he’s demonstrated a familiarity with the rules for investing there. In his March interview with CNN, he said he wouldn’t enter Cuba “on the basis that you get a 49 percent interest, because right now you get a 49 percent interest.” The exchange was an apparent reference to Cuban law limiting foreign investors’ stakes in Cuban operations to less than 50 percent. Trump didn’t mention the more onerous U.S. regulations limiting investment in Cuba. He said he likely favored Obama’s efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, “but I’d want much better deals than what we’re making.”
Encouraged by the White House’s loosening of regulations, plenty of other U.S. companies, including Airbnb, Google, PayPal, and Western Union, are gradually entering Cuba, but they must still carefully navigate the embargo. In late June, Starwood began managing a refurbished hotel in Havana’s main business district, the first U.S.-managed hotel in Cuba in 60 years. At a June event in Manhattan, a Starwood executive repeatedly referred to the “business travelers” who would be attracted by the property, apparently mindful of the perils of promoting tourism.
The repercussions of breaking the embargo are real. Violators are still being penalized, even for ventures only remotely connected to Cuba. In February, the Treasury Department alleged that two Cayman Islands subsidiaries of the energy-services company Halliburton had been involved in oil drilling off the shore of Angola, as part of a consortium in which the Cuban government held a 5 percent stake. Halliburton agreed to pay the U.S. $304,706 to settle the matter.
For the Trump Organization, there’s a further concern: the potential conflicts of interest posed by Trump’s far-flung business empire should he be elected president. In addition to his operations in the U.S., Trump operates in Azerbaijan, Brazil, Georgia, Israel, Turkey, and several other countries. Federal conflict-of-interest laws do little to prevent presidents from continuing to exert influence over their businesses—even as they exercise powers that could broadly benefit those interests.
“Make sure that whatever you do is absolutely legal in every way, and at some point, when it’s legal, I’d be interested in it”
Russo, 70, lives in Key West, Fla. He first encountered the Trump Organization in 2002. The former chairman of the town planning board in Bedminster, N.J., Russo helped Trump get authorization for his golf course there. Though he has no formal environmental training, he appears before local regulators around the country seeking approval for Trump projects.
On the phone, he’s friendly, a talker, but the first to admit his memory’s not the best. “I don’t remember last night,” he says. He was unsure how many times he and Glick, Trump’s golf chief, had traveled to Cuba. He says he took Glick on at least one trip to Cuba for some bird-watching.
“He was into it. And that’s the thing. I’m going to Cuba, I’m bringing people to Cuba. And I know people from Trump, I know people outside of Trump. So if somebody from Trump wanted to come with me, I don’t think that means they were representing anything having to do with the Trump Organization. They just enjoyed the environment, like you or I would.” Russo says that on his travels in Cuba, “you can’t help but say, ‘Wow, here’s a hotel that could be renovated,’ or, ‘This is a particular spot that would be perfect for this or perfect for that,’ and I would only hope that someday that the Trump Organization or other investors could develop something nice over there.”
Courtesy of Digital Library of the Caribbean, University of Florida
Asked if he’s discussed Cuban opportunities with Donald Trump, Russo says: “I don’t remember exactly what our conversations were. But you would have to realize that talking to Donald Trump is, you know, it’s a very complicated experience.” He added later that Trump admonished him on Cuba to “make sure that whatever you do is absolutely legal in every way, and at some point, when it’s legal, I’d be interested in it.”
Glick, 49, is close to the Trump family and has worked for Trump for nine years. He recently traveled with Eric Trump, checking the status of the company’s developments in Bali, Dubai, Manila, and Aberdeen, Scotland, according to pictures posted by the two men on their Twitter accounts. He sits on the board of Eric’s foundation. Although he has no formal campaign role, he’s a fierce advocate for Trump’s White House run, excoriating Hillary Clinton on social media almost daily. He accompanied both adult Trump sons at the Republican National Convention during TV interviews. One person recalled a conversation with Glick after he returned from Cuba during which he described the company’s ambitions for golf on the island. Glick didn’t respond to requests for comment.
For his part, Russo gets that even now, pursuing golf in Cuba is problematic. “I would interpret golf as tourism, and therefore it can’t be done at this time,” he says. He maintains his dozen or so trips have all been environmental—and for birding—with only the most casual inquiries into golf-related properties. “Given the nature of the regulations and OFAC’s licensing trends, I would be quite surprised if it authorized multiple trips to Cuba for nonspecialist, nonexpert, random bird-watching,” says Alavi, the U.S. sanctions adviser.
In February 2013, Zamora, the Cuban-American lawyer, set up a nonprofit in Miami called the Florida-Cuba Environmental Coalition. Its directors include Russo and several advisers for investors in Cuba, including some who have consulted for the Trump Organization. Certain “environmental” projects qualified as one of the reasons U.S. citizens could travel to Cuba legally in 2013. When he’s asked about the nonprofit, Russo’s memory falters again. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a meeting. I didn’t even know my name was on that group,” he says.
Larry Glick, Ed Russo, Ron Lieberman, and companion on the links in Cuba in a photo posted on Facebook.
Another board member of the coalition, Dominic Soave, is a Havana-based business consultant from Canada who’s made introductions for Trump executives in Cuba, according to two people familiar with the matter. He’s also circulated a set of drawings of Havana with a Trump tower. “I really haven’t been advising anyone,” says Soave. He, Zamora, and two other directors say their nonprofit has taught sustainable fishing techniques to Cuban fishermen. The group has also promoted the Ernest Hemingway International Billfishing Tournament in Cuba, helping Americans get licenses to take part.
A second nonprofit, the American-Cuban Golf Association, was set up last year by Russo’s wife, Jennifer Hulse, and lists a residence in Key West as its address. The group lists her and her husband as directors. The organization’s third director is David Schutzenhofer, who runs the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster. Schutzenhofer did not return calls prior to publication.
Asked about the golf nonprofit, Russo first seems confused: “What is that supposed to do?” he asks. “Am I listed on that also?” He eventually explains that the group was intended to provide cross-cultural golf instruction: Cubans teaching golf to Americans and vice versa. “You should know that the organization was my idea and had nothing to do with the Trump Organization,” Hulse wrote in an e-mail. “One of my passions in life is golf, and I would like to find a way to bridge the distance between our countries through love of the game.”
A couple of Hulse’s cultural exchanges may have taken place toward the end of last year. Photographs and a video posted to Hulse’s Facebook page in December show her husband and Greenblatt, the Trump chief legal officer, at the Floridita restaurant in Old Havana, a favorite of Hemingway’s. Another set of pictures, posted a month earlier, shows Russo, Glick, Lieberman, and Soave listening to a live performance of Hotel California in the lobby of the Parque Central hotel in Old Havana.
Still another series finds the men playing at the Varadero course. One shot shows Russo teeing off, with Glick and Lieberman waiting their turn. Below the pictures of the Trump executives golfing, one Facebook friend asked: “How is the golf course?”
Hulse replied: “Not spectacular but it’s the only one in Cuba right now. Plans to build many more in the near future.”
What is terrifying and pathetic is the Obama White House and both Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have been stooges of Putin….groveling for normalcy just as they have with the regime of Iran. This is an administration that is normalizing relations with all terror regimes across the globe that include North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. Hillary said that Bashir al Assad of Syria was a reformer when 400,000 Syrians are dead and 4-5 million have left their homes. Then, we all remember that the Obama White House negotiated with Qatar to released 5 Taliban commanders in exchange for one Army deserter. Talks have been ongoing with the Taliban for years until just recently.
No one is admitting that Russian in cadence with WikiLeaks has hacked Hillary’s campaign systems, DCC and the DNC as well as other government systems. Why? Perhaps diplomacy due to talks continued talks with Iran and ending the civil war in Syria. Remember that ‘red-line’ on chemical weapons use.
So, let’s go back a way, like over a decade and up to just a couple of years ago when it came to Russian spies in the United States, shall we? This is for perspective and how the Obama administration including his National Security Council and the State Department continue to ‘omit’ history…
Espionage continues and tactics have not changed for Russia where cyber intrusions have replaced in country operatives, however a look at those operatives’ skills and missions must not be overlooked or dismissed.
The spying spree finally came to its end in the summer of 2014, when the trio were propositioned by a self-described investor who wanted to develop casinos in Russia. The scheme immediately drew red flags among the group, with Sporyshev offering that the proposal felt “like some sort of set-up.” But despite his misgivings, Sporyshev didn’t stop Buryakov from meeting with the supposed investor, who was, in fact, an FBI informant. For six hours on Aug. 28, Buryakov and the informant met in the anemic gambling metropolis Atlantic City. The informant, who claimed he had a well-placed source in the U.S. government, handed Buryakov documents that were labeled “Internal Treasury Use Only” and contained a list of Russians who were essentially blacklisted from doing business with the United States. The valuable document earned the informant another meeting that day, when he offered Buryakov another official document that contained “a list of Russian banks… on which to impose sanctions,” according to the criminal complaint. More from DailyBeast.
Then there was a dead Russian, Mikhail Lesin. found in a hotel in Dupont Circle, Washington DC. A story that came and went real fast.
Mr. Lesin was a major figure in Russian media after the fall of the Soviet Union, first as an advertising executive and later as a top government official and media executive.
He had deep connections to the Russian state at the time Mr. Putin was reasserting his authority over the country’s rambunctious and freewheeling media. He was a crucial figure in that process, which began with the takeover of Russia’s first independent television channel, NTV, in the early 2000s, and was viewed with bitterness by many Russian journalists at that time.
He was Russian press minister between 1999 and 2004 — a time of increasing government pressure on independent journalists and media outlets in the country — and later served as a presidential adviser, spearheading the development of the government’s growing media and technology apparatus.
More recently, Mr. Lesin became head of Gazprom-Media, the country’s largest media holding company, in 2013, but resigned from that position in late 2014.
While still with the company in 2014, Mr. Lesin’s personal wealth attracted suspicion in the United States. Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, called for a Justice Department investigation, raising the possibility of corruption and money-laundering charges based on what he alleged were millions of dollars in assets, including $28 million worth of real estate in Los Angeles, controlled by the former civil servant. It is unclear whether such an investigation occurred. More here from the NewYorkTimes.
(Note: Three former U.S. officials said that a trip Flynn took last December to Moscow—where he was filmed sitting at the head table next to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a formal dinner—set off alarms within military and intelligence circles over whether Flynn had notified the U.S. government about his foreign travel, as his security clearance requires. The Defense Intelligence Agency spokesman said that Flynn had given the proper notices. But a current senior defense official said that word of Flynn’s travel didn’t reach the office of Defense Secretary Ash Carter, and that Pentagon brass were taken by surprise that he didn’t notify the department. That he would be working with the Trump campaign or pushing for better U.S.-Russian relations, even as the two nations are battling each other on the behalf of proxy forces in Syria, was less surprising, the official said. “He’s always been a bit of a wild card,” he concluded. Another former senior U.S. intelligence official who knows Flynn said that he recently praised Trump as a “skilled negotiator” during a meeting of security leaders and experts in Washington. This person said the pair had become so close that, were Trump to win the presidency, he would likely nominate Flynn as the next Director of National Intelligence, the top intelligence official in the government. Via DailyBeast)
There is an organization that works to stop child-trafficking and performs investigations on predators and holds seminars on this topic called ERASE. Curiously however, not much has come out of government about it outside of the FBI and Hillary has never made mention of it.
For to listen to a podcast on this topic with a top FBI investigator:
Throughout the world, those in power extort vulnerable women and girls by demanding sex, rather than money. “Sextortion” is a pervasive yet under-reported form of corruption involving sexual exploitation: judges demanding sex in exchange for visas or favorable custody decisions, landlords threatening to evict tenants unless they have sex with them, supervisors making job security contingent on sex, and principals conditioning student graduation on sex. Today the crime has become digital and cyber-sextortion is rapidly on the rise.
In 2015, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, in collaboration with the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), launched a guide: “Combating Sextortion: A Comparative Study of Laws to Prosecute Corruption Involving Sexual Exploitation.” The study outlined laws and practices relating to the crime in nine jurisdictions, spanning six continents. This new report was borne out of that research, and takes a more specific look at the United States and at how sextortion has evolved.
Despite increasing recognition from law enforcement agencies that sextortion exists and that it is indeed on the rise—the United States lacks adequate legal solutions to ensure justice for victims. This leaves women and young girls vulnerable at the hands of those willing to abuse their power, and—increasingly—online predators.
“A Call to Action: Ending ‘Sextortion’ in the Digital Age” shines a spotlight on the growing threat of sextortion, and highlights how easy it is to infiltrate computers to record and steal sexual imagery. The report calls for public education to help prevent sextortion and provides concrete examples of revisions to existing criminal statutes in order to combat this rapidly developing crime.
The report is an innovative collaboration between Legal Momentum and Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe LLP facilitated by TrustLaw, the global pro bono programme of the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
We hope this study becomes a powerful tool to raise public awareness about sextortion, and to support legislators, advocates and citizens in the fight to end this shameful practice in the United States and beyond.
Exclusive: FBI investigates hacking of Democratic congressional group – sources
Reuters: The FBI is investigating a cyber intrusion against a major Democratic Party congressional fundraising group, an attack that may be related to an earlier hack against the party apparatus, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The previously unreported incident at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, and its potential ties to Russian hackers are likely to sharpen concern, so far unproven, that Moscow is attempting to meddle in U.S. elections.
Hacking of the party’s emails has clouded this week’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia, where Hillary Clinton was scheduled to accept the party’s presidential nomination on Thursday evening.
The breach at the DCCC may have been intended to gather information about donors, rather than to steal money, the sources said on Thursday.
The DCCC raises money for Democrats running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The intrusion at the group could have begun as recently as June, two of the sources told Reuters.
That was when a bogus website was registered with a name closely resembling that of a main donation site connected to the DCCC. For some time, internet traffic associated with donations that was supposed to go to a company that processes campaign donations instead went to the bogus site, two sources said.
The sources said the Internet Protocol address of the spurious site resembled one used by a Russian government-linked hacking group, one of two such groups suspected in a recently revealed breach of the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, the nationwide strategy-setting and money-raising body for the Democratic Party.
Cyber security experts and U.S. officials said on Monday there was evidence that Russia engineered the DNC hack to release sensitive party emails in order to influence the U.S. presidential election.
The release of the emails by activist group WikiLeaks on the weekend caused discord in the party because they appeared to show favoritism within the DNC for Clinton over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who ran a close race for the nomination for the Nov. 8 election.
The DNC, targeted by hackers earlier this year, and the DCCC share the same office space on South Capitol Street in Washington.
The DCCC had no immediate comment on Thursday. Donation processing company ActBlue also had no immediate comment. CrowdStrike, the California-based cyber security firm that investigated the DNC breach, declined to comment.
GREAT CONCERN
Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist who once worked for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, said the possibility of the DCCC being hacked was cause for great concern.
“Until proven otherwise, I would suggest that everyone involved with the campaign committee operate under the assumption Russians have access to everything in their computer systems,” Manley said.
The FBI referred questions to a statement it made on Monday on the DNC hack:
“The FBI is investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC and are working to determine the nature and scope of the matter. A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”
The disclosure of the DCCC breach is likely to further stoke concerns among Democratic Party operatives, many of whom have acknowledged they fear further dumps of hacked files that could harm their candidates. WikiLeaks has said it has more material related to the U.S. election that it intends to release.
DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned after the leaked emails last weekend showed party leaders favoring Clinton over Sanders. The committee is supposed to be neutral.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said on Thursday the U.S. intelligence community was not ready to “make the call on attribution” as to who was responsible for the DNC hack. The White House said earlier the FBI had not disclosed any information about who was behind the hack.
Clapper, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, acknowledged that “there’s just a few usual suspects out there” who might be responsible for the cyber intrusion, suggesting it was the work of a state actor rather than an independent hacking group.
Clapper said in May he was aware of attempted hacks on campaigns and related groups and he expected to see more as the November election neared. The last two U.S. presidential cycles in 2008 and 2012 witnessed a barrage of cyber attacks from a range of adversaries targeting President Barack Obama’s campaign and the campaigns of his Republican foes, officials have said.
Russian officials have dismissed the allegations of Moscow’s involvement in such hacks. “It is so absurd it borders on total stupidity,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, angered Democrats this week by inviting Russia to unearth tens of thousands of emails from rival Clinton’s tenure as U.S. secretary of state. Trump said on Thursday he was being sarcastic in his remarks.
Do you ever wonder who is who? Do you wonder what people are doing when not on stage? What about the lobbying, the meetings, the rallies, the influence, the powerbrokers?
Here is an eye-opening insight into what else goes on behind the stage and around Philadelphia….anyone talking about the DNC email server hack? Yes….about policies? Yes….about who is seen with who? Yes….
11:58 a.m., Thursday, July 28: They may not look like lobbyists, but a gaggle of Catholic nuns have a distinct message to share in Philadelphia.
The Nuns on the Bus, a project of NETWORK, is calling on Congress to “mend the gaps in wealth, income and access.”
Amid the Democratic National Convention, Nuns on the Bus is conducting three, two-hour workshops to educate people about gaps in seven key areas — tax justice, living wages, family-friendly workplaces, healthcare, housing, citizenship and democracy — and inspire people to take action.
On Wednesday afternoon, about three-dozen people gathered in a room in the Philadelphia Convention Center as nine of the Nuns on the Bus described how the immense gains seen by the wealthiest Americans since 1980, the modest gains seen by middle class and the decline seen by the country’s poorest citizens.
Its cause, they said: President Ronald Reagan’s implementation of trickle-down economics, reduction of the top tax brackets and clashes with labor unions.
“Policies made the mess,” said Sister Simone Campbell, the executive director of NETWORK. “Policies can fix the mess.”
It’s not that people in the top 1 percent are bad or evil, Campbell continued, but rather it’s that they are “so far away from the lived reality” of their less wealthy brethren.
The Catholic social justice group is making at least a few friends on Capitol Hill. At one point Wednesday, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., made a brief appearance at the event, praising the Nuns on the Bus and saying that “we are with you 100 percent.”
Lobbying records show that NETWORK spent $380,000 lobbying Congress and the federal government last year, and has spent $190,000 so far this year.
Since early July, the Nuns on the Bus bus tour has visited cities in 13 states and also made an appearance at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Along the way, they have been collecting pledge cards that will eventually be delivered to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Speaking to attendees Wednesday, Campbell stressed the importance of being engaged in 2016.
“We need you this election cycle probably more than ever,” she said. “It’s going to depend on we the people to form a more perfect union.”
— Michael Beckel
TWITTER’S CONVENTION NEST
11:52 a.m., Thursday, July 28: Exhausted by running all over Philadelphia in the searing heat? Twitter has a refuge for you.
On Locust Street in downtown Philadelphia, Twitter’s logos plaster the outside of a restaurant and event space they’ve converted into the #TwitterDistrict, home to free wi-fi, trays of Prosecco glasses, mini lobster rolls and other goodies.
The lounge is mainly reserved for people Twitter works with, including reporters, but that list also includes members’ offices who want training in how to better use Twitter and Twitter products.
Twitter also used the space to host panels, such as one on “Women, Power and Politics” Wednesday whose lineup included Stephanie Hannon, the chief technology officer for the Clinton campaign.
A Twitter spokesman said the company had a similar space at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week. It represents the company’s largest presence at conventions so far.
— Carrie Levine
THE DONALD TRIES TO TRUMP DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
11:21 a.m. Thursday, July 28: It used to be that Republicans would more or less take a week off while Democrats conducted their once-every-four-years national convention — and vice versa.
But Donald Trump’s assertion Wednesday that Russia should spy on Hillary Clinton’s emails has overshadowed some of the events unfolding in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention. (Democrats accused Trump of disloyalty; Trump says he was “being sarcastic.”)
Senior political reporter Dave Levinthal today dished about this and other convention developments with WBEN-AM 930 in Buffalo, N.Y. Listen here.
— The Center for Public Integrity
INCOME INEQUALITY, BROUGHT TO YOU BY …
8:27 a.m. Thursday, July 28: Income inequality is one of the most critical challenges facing the nation, and for $20,000 your company or organization could have been the “title co-sponsor” of an event today discussing the issue with Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and other Democratic mayors.
In addition to the title co-sponsorship, a $20,000 contribution would have also given you six tickets to the discussion, a one-year membership in the National Conference of Democratic Mayors’ Alliance program and four tickets to each of the other discussion events the group was holding during the Democratic National Convention, among other perks.
Not feeling the need to the most conspicuous brand associated with the event? Give $10,000 as a “gold sponsor” or $5,000 as a “silver sponsor” and receive a smaller number of tickets and other perks.
Earlier in the week, the National Conference of Democratic Mayors also held discussions about economic innovation and transportation and infrastructure issues, with similar rewards for funders.
7:12 p.m. Wednesday, July 27: Three-ounce glasses of Left Hand Nitro Stout and trays of pretzel rolls lined the bar. One corner held platters of fried chicken, marinated vegetables, cheese and other goodies. And the millennials were in the house.
The event at BRU, a Philadelphia bar, put together by political nonprofit NextGen Climate, was all about drawing them in. Called “#WhyWeVote: Millennials and the Election,” and introduced by environmentalist and megadonor Tom Steyer, a panel was set up “to talk about what it means to get millennials to understand the importance of your voice and your vote,” Steyer said.
Millennials “often say, politics is too corrupt for me to vote,” said Svante Myrick, the mayor of Ithaca, New York and the youngest mayor in the history of New York state. “Politics is too corrupt for me to participate… You don’t go to a party unless you’re invited.”
The panelists were there to talk about convincing millennials to go to the polls, something that is a major initiative for NextGen Climate this cycle, Steyer told the Center for Public Integrity after the panel concluded.
“We’re trying to organize field operations for people under the age of 30 so that they are informed particularly on energy and climate, something they particularly care about,” he said. Steyer said the effort includes field and online outreach.
Steyer, who together with his wife is the top individual donor at the federal level this cycle, according to campaign finance data tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics, has given more than $31 million, nearly all of it to NextGen Climate Action Fund, a super PAC affiliated with NextGen Climate.
FOR LOBBYISTS, CLEVELAND ROCKS … BUT SO DOES PHILLY
3:27 p.m. Wednesday, July 27: Think there’s less schmoozing to be had at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia compared to that in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention?
Think again.
Center for Public Integrity political reporter Carrie Levinetells Arnie Arnesen of WNHN-FM 94.7 in Concord, N.H.: “There are plenty of parties, plenty of concerts and lots of events to go to — we’re keeping a very full schedule.”
11:44 a.m. Wednesday, July 27: While national political convention pageantry takes place inside a sports arena, the real (and often exclusive) parties — involving lawmakers, lobbyists and other special interests — are this month taking place within bars, clubs and restaurants across Cleveland and Philadelphia.
10:43 a.m. Wednesday, July 27: A party hosted Tuesday night in Philadelphia by left-leaning super PAC Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC mixed a festive atmosphere with a serious message.
Amid performances by Kesha and the Drive-By Truckers, organizers urged the crowd at the Theatre of Living Arts to support political candidates who support stricter gun control measures.
Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC — founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived a 2011 assassination attempt, and her husband Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut — calls for people to “use every means available” to ensure Congress “puts communities’ interests ahead of the gun lobby’s.”
This election cycle, the super PAC is supporting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as well as a number of U.S. Senate candidates.
“Stopping gun violence takes courage,” Giffords told the crowd during a break in the nearly hour-long set by the Drive-By Truckers, a Georgia-based alt-country rock band whose latest albums has songs specifically dealing with gun violence and mass shootings. “Be courageous. The nation’s counting on you.”
Added Kelly: “Go out and vote on this issue.”
The party, following the Democratic Nationa Convention’s Tuesday session, was a hot ticket.
Even with one, admission wasn’t guaranteed: The venue filled up fast, with high-profile political attendees including the likes of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned as the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee earlier this week, and Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager.
By around midnight, the line outside stretched down the block and security at the door was telling would-be concert-goers they couldn’t go in until someone left.
Taking the stage about 1:15 a.m., Kesha played for roughly 15 minutes. Her brief set included hit songs “We R Who We R” and “Tik Tok.”
The music arrived after Kesha was introduced by actress Elizabeth Banks, who described herself as the “hugest, hugest fan” of Giffords and called Kelly a “national hero.” On Tuesday night, Banks also served as de facto master of ceremonies during the Democratic National Convention’s proceedings.
For her part, Kesha also added her voice in support of the Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC’s cause, saying that while we may not be able to control who feels hurt or pain in this country, “what we can control is who we give f—ing weapons to.”
Since it was formed in January 2013, the Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC has raised more than $31 million, including $3.7 million so far this year, according to disclosures submitted to the Federal Election Commission. It entered July with about $5 million in the bank, according to its most recent campaign finance filing.
Roughly half of the money the Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC has raised over its existence is from small-dollar donors who have given $200 or less, records show.
But some wealthy donors are also among its supporters, including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and the Texas law firm of Democratic super donors Steve and Amber Mostyn. All have made six-figure contributions to Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC.
The privilege could have been yours for a cool $15,000 — which would have also included photo-ops with elected officials, candidates, delegates and other special guests, along with other perks.
Other sponsorship packages existed at the $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 level, according to materials obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.
The New York-based New American Leadership Project touts itself as the “only national, nonpartisan organization focused on bringing New Americans into the political process.” In its five years of existence, it has trained nearly 400 people to run for office, according to material on its website. Its focus is on first- and second-generation immigrants.
What it hasn’t done yet: rake in the big bucks. Tax records filed with the Internal Revenue Service show the New American Leaders Project has yet to raise more than $50,000 during a single year.
4:24 p.m. Tuesday, July 26: Fundraisers and corporate lobbyists aren’t the only ones who take advantage of the conventions to conduct events and make sure members of Congress hear about their issues.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which advocates for reproductive freedom and against restrictions on abortion, partnered with Cosmopolitan Magazine for a lunchtime panel on “Congress, the Courts and Your Body” this afternoon at the National Museum of American Jewish History.
The panel, which included U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, both Democrats, drew a crowd that lunched on salmon and grilled vegetables. Attendees lauded the Supreme Court’s decision last month in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstadt, which overturned Texas restrictions on abortion clinics, a ruling Blumenthal described as a “landmark.”
Spotted among the crowd: actresses Constance Wu and Eva Longoria, a Democratic party fundraising stalwart who introduced U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey at the convention last night (an assistant said she wasn’t giving interviews today). Several other members of Congress, including U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell of Michigan and Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts, also attended.
Blumenthal, the sponsor of legislation that he said would require clear medical proof of necessity for state restrictions on abortion, and Watson Coleman encouraged supporters to reach out to members of Congress.
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the Whole Woman’s Health ruling is a “new tool” that will help the center and others take on other state laws. In addition, she said that in addition to such defensive work, advocates could now “push for affirmative laws.”
For example, she said it could be time to lay groundwork to “make sure that women who can’t afford abortion care can get it in federal programs.” Her comments appear aimed at the so-called Hyde Amendment, versions of which have for decades restricted the use of federal funds for abortion.
This year, the Democrats’ platform, passed yesterday, calls specifically for repealing the Hyde Amendment, a controversial proposal.
CONCERNS ABOUT CORPORATE-SPONSORED DAY AT THE BALLPARK? ‘OVERBLOWN’ CONGRESSMAN SAYS
2:06 p.m. Tuesday, July 26: Batting practice during the Democratic All Star Challenge at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, was briefly interrupted this morning for a few words from the event’s hosts and biggest sponsor.
James C. Greenwood, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who now serves as the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s chief executive officer, praised the House and Senate Energy and Commerce Committees for “working in a bipartisan fashion” to help cure diseases such as AIDS, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
“Bad policies,” Greenwood admonished, could “kill innovation.”
As the main sponsor of the charity baseball event — money donated by its corporate sponsors will go to three charities — the Biotechnology Innovation Organization had given $50,000, according to marketing materials obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.
Part of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the charity event was held “in honor of” the Democrats on the House and Senate energy and commerce committees. (A similar event was held in Cleveland last week during the Republican National Convention.)
Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also spoke briefly at the charity fundraiser.
Sporting khaki shorts, a black Pittsburgh Pirates t-shirt and a yellow Pirates baseball cap, Doyle called the event “a great thing” and a chance to “benefit some great charities.”
Speaking to the Center for Public Integrity after the event, Doyle dismissed the idea that he, or any of the other lawmakers, would be unduly influenced by the companies’ charitable donations to support the event.
“It’s frustrating that people think we are somehow influenced by that,” Doyle said. “It’s really easy to believe that there’s always something bad going on,” he continued, calling concerns that any lawmaker would be swayed by these types of contributions “overblown.”
“We’re public servants,” he said.
He added that the best way to assess who was influencing him was to look at his voting record in Congress.
At one point in the interview, Doyle even pulled a list of the events’ sponsors out of his pocket to stress that he wasn’t beloved by many of them.
“There are a lot of people on that list that don’t like me,” he said.
Throughout the morning, a few dozen people milled about the stadium, in the dugout and on the field near home plate as guests with VIP tickets took a few swings during batting practice. Among them? both Doyle and Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, another member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who was also present at the event.
Not in Philadelphia? The discussion — and musical performances — will be broadcast online live here at 4 p.m. EDT.
— Michael Beckel
HUD SECRETARY HONORED AT LAVISH LUNCHEON
12:57 p.m. Tuesday, July 26: He may not have been selected as Hillary Clinton’s vice president, but Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro has at least received a leadership award by the Latino Leaders Network.
Castro collected the award — and give a speech to the group — at a luncheon today in Philadelphia at the lavish Crystal Tea Room, a venue complete with “carved columns and opulent crystal chandeliers.” (A wedding reception there typically runs between $20,500 and $33,550.)
On the Latino Leaders Network’s website, Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest beer maker, is the sole company listed as a “premier sponsor” of the quarterly luncheon series. Tax records show the Anheuser-Busch Foundation has contributed $100,000 annually to the Latino Leaders Network in recent years.
— Michael Beckel
COURT SAYS CONVENTION DONORS’ IDENTITIES CAN STAY SECRET
9:45 a.m., Tuesday, July 26: Comcast’s logo is splashed across signs welcoming Democratic delegates to the Wells Fargo Center.
Tents in the “convention village” offering video games, cocktails, and buffets are sponsored by a series of firms and trade associations that want lawmakers’ attention and goodwill.
Unions have filed paperwork disclosing seven-figure contributions to the host committee of the Philadelphia convention.
The host committee itself has posted a thank-you to a list of especially generous corporate sponsors on its website.
And yet, despite all that exposure, the host committee has fought to keep its official donors list secret. State authorities have ruled the records should be public. But yesterday the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas handed convention planners a major victory, allowing the host committee to maintain donor anonymity for another two months.
The host committee is required to file reports about its finances with the city of Philadelphia because the city has extended a $15 million line of credit to the host committee as a backstop to its fundraising efforts. A state agency said the records had to be disclosed, but the host committee appealed.
The host committee’s executive director, Kevin Washo, and lawyers for the committee said the information is confidential and proprietary, and the committee is still fundraising, and releasing the information sooner could hurt their efforts. Federal election law allows the host committee to wait to disclose its donors until after the election.
Anna Adams-Sarthou, a spokeswoman for the host committee, said it has raised about $58 million in cash and pledges and $16 million in in-kind contributions so far, and is working to raise another $1 million in cash.
“We appreciate that the Court has recognized that the Host Committee is required to be among the most transparent of all organizations by federal law,” she said in a statement. “This ruling emphasizes the fact that we have been following federal guidelines for the last two years and will help us complete the work to put on a successful convention.”
The “Democratic All Star Challenge” charity batting practice event honors the Democratic members of the House and Senate’s Energy and Commerce committees, while raising money for the D.C.-based Washington Literacy Center, the Pittsburgh-based Center of Life and Phillies Charities, the charitable arm of the baseball team.
According to marketing materials obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, sponsorships range from $5,000 for the “sports fan package” to $50,000 for the “grand slam package,” which the Biotechnology Innovation Organization appears to have purchased.
Each tier includes a number of perks such as general admission tickets to the event, as well as tickets for either regular batting practice and VIP batting practice with former Phillies outfielder Milt Thompson. (Former Phillies pitcher Dickie Noles will also lead a pitching clinic during the event.)
Another apparent perk of being the top sponsor? Giving a speech to attendees.
James C. Greenwood, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who now serves as the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s chief executive officer, is scheduled to deliver remarks during the event. So is Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who sits on its Communications and Technology subcommittee as well as its Energy and Power subcommittee.
Doyle is also the longtime coach of the Democrats’ congressional baseball team, which plays against a Republican team once a year each summer in Washington, D.C., for charity.
— Michael Beckel
CONVENTION MONEY … AND MAYHEM
11:57 p.m. Monday, July 25: How do the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention contrast?
And what about the money behind them both?
Center for Public Integrity senior political reporter Dave Levinthal today spoke with KALW-FM 91.7’s “Your Call” in San Francisco and TRT World’s “The Newsmakers” program about these and other convention-related issues.
Courtesy of Digital Library of the Caribbean, University of Florida
