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Government Corruption

Trump yanks clearances and authorizes further investigation into '51 intelligence professionals'

2025-01-22

[Red State] President Donald Trump, as expected, has signed an executive order revoking the security clearances of 51 intelligence officers who signed a letter portraying Hunter Biden’s laptop as ’Russian disinformation’ before the 2020 presidential election.

The order also authorizes further investigation into those involved in the publication of the infamous letter.

It requires the "Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" to "revoke any current or active clearances" of the listed 51 individuals.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Directors Mike Hayden, John Brennan, and Leon Panetta, and former National Security Advisor John Bolton are on the list.

Link

Home Front: WoT

12th Anniversary of the Benghazi Attack – THE BENGHAZI BRIEF- remains the most in-depth research report CTH has ever produced. The brief took two years of research to assemble and contains hundreds of very specific citations supporting it.

2024-09-11

[ConservativeTreehouse] Ten years after the brief was originally written in 2014, nothing within the outline has ever been identified as inaccurate. The full brief has been updated below adding context depth from current events.

Impressive job of work. Very long, very information dense, lots of hot links. It’s much too twisty for me to follow, honestly, being as I am only a junior analyst-in-training (thanks for the job title, SteveS!) It begins:

We know from the Bret Baier interview with Hillary Clinton that she was physically located at her 7th floor office in Washington DC on the night of the attack 9/11/12.

Unfortunately, we also know during the November 2012 Thanksgiving holiday a mysterious fire took place in that building. Well, actually directly above her exact office – cause undetermined.

A “fire” which preceded an unfortunate slip and fall for the Secretary, resulting in a concussion, which led to the discovery of a blood clot, that ultimately delayed her congressional testimony before a Senate Hearing into the events of the night in question.

We know the Libyan uprising began on February 10th of 2011, and we also know that sometime around the end of February 2011 President Obama signed a presidential directive authorizing the State Dept and CIA to begin a covert operation to arm the Libyan “rebels”.

We also know of a Second Presidential Finding Memo authorizing additional CIA covert action in 2012, this time in Syria. However, unlike the 2011 Libyan operation, we do not know the operational name of the second action in 2012 (Syria).

We know the Libyan “rebels” were positioned in two strategic places. Benghazi, and the port city of Darnah, both located in Northeastern Libya.

We know this 2011 Libyan covert operation came to be known as “Operation Zero Footprint“. We know Secretary Clinton and CIA head Panetta were the primary sponsors for the joint State Dept./CIA approach; and we know that specifically because of a U.N. Security Council resolution (unattended by Ambassador Susan Rice) the operation fell under the military command authority of NATO not (important to repeat), NOT, the U.S. Military.

We know by the time operation “Zero Footprint” began, AFRICOM commander General Carter Ham was removed from OPSEC oversight in the Libyan campaign, and NATO commander Admiral James G. Stavridis was in charge.

Stavridis was the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) at the time of the Libyan uprising. He retired as SACEUR in 2013

In 2011, 57-year-old Stavridis was the perfect pick for NATO Libyan intervention considering he is the son of Turkish immigrants. Turkey played a key role in what might be the most politically dangerous aspect of the events to the White House once the goals changed to redirection of the weapons from Operation Zero Footprint.

We know Operation Zero Footprint was the covert transfer of weapons from the U.S to the Libyan “rebels”. We also know the operation avoided the concerns with congressional funding, and potential for public scrutiny, through financing by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

We also know that officials within the government of Qatar served as the intermediaries for the actual transfer of the weapons, thereby removing the footprint of the U.S. intervention.

We know the entire operation was coordinated and controlled by the State Department and CIA. We also know (from the Senate Foreign Relations Benghazi hearings) that “Zero Footprint” was unknown to the 2011 Pentagon, and/or DoD commanders who would have been tasked with any military response to the 9/11/12 attack – namely AFRICOM General Carter Ham.

However, it would be implausible to think that then Defense Secretary Bob Gates or Joint Chiefs Chair Admiral McMullen were completely unaware of the operation. Even today, despite the numerous hearings and reports, this aspect remains murky.

Both Defense Secretary Gates and Joint Chiefs Chair McMullen were in place when Operation Zero Footprint began. However, both retired from their jobs in Sept of 2011, and were replaced by Leon Panetta and Martin Dempsey respectively.

Leon Panetta was CIA Director at the beginning of Operation Zero Footprint (March 2011) and was replaced by CIA Director David Petraeus in the fall of 2011 as Panetta replaced Bob Gates and became Secretary of Defense.

However, Panetta (now as Def Sec) and JC Martin Dempsey were the two who initially briefed President Obama on the night of Sept 11th 2012. This is an important fact to remember – because of his previous CIA role in constructing Zero Footprint, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta definitely had knowledge of the intents of the joint State Dept/CIA mission in Benghazi, Martin Dempsey may not have.

We know the White House appears to have followed “The Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980” in informing the congressional “Gang of Eight” of Zero Footprint.

The Gang of Eight in 2011 would have included: Speaker – John Boehner, Minority Leader – Nancy Pelosi; House Permanent Select Committee on Intel Chairman – Mike Rogers, and his Democrat counterpart Charles Ruppersberger; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; along with Senate Intel Chair Diane Feinstein and her Republican counterpart, Saxby Chambliss.

From Hillary interviews we also know the White House liaison for Secretary Clinton and CIA Director Leon Panetta during Operation Zero Footprint was National Security Advisor To the President, Tom Donilon.

With this information we can assemble a cast of people “IN THE KNOW” of Operation Zero Footprint on two specific date blocks. March 2011 through Pre 9/11/12 attack – and – Post 9/11/12 attack forward.

Link

Government Corruption

Biden received sensitive data, briefings from security advisers via his private pseudonym email

2024-05-28

[JustTheNews] Under the law, such communications are supposed to occur on secure government email systems and to date Biden has not offered any explanation why his private email account was used. The Archives says it has tens of thousands of such emails from three Biden personal pseudonym accounts used during his vice presidency.

While he was vice president, Joe Biden received sensitive communications via his private email accounts created under a fictitious identity, including foreign policy discussions with his national security adviser, schedules of meetings with Cabinet secretaries and a summary of at least one intelligence briefing to President Barack Obama, according to new emails obtained by Just the News.

The new memos were released by the National Archives over the Memorial Day holiday weekend under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Southeastern Legal Foundation on behalf of Just the News that sought emails that Biden received or transmitted as vice president using his robinware456@gmail.com account.

While none of the newly released emails had classification markings on them, several included sensitive information transmitted over an insecure Google email account that could be of value to foreign powers and hostile spy agencies. The latest batch involved communications mostly from 2012.

For instance, Biden was forwarded an early morning briefing from then-White House counterterrorism director John Brennan to Obama on possible tsunamis hitting Hawaii in October 2012 which gave details on what the president had been told and how an emergency response would be crafted by the U.S. government.

"Call with POTUS took place at 3:10 a.m. EST," the email from Brennan stated. "He was briefed on earthquake, tsunami warnings, evacuation plans, and FEMA/federal response. He directed that all possible be done by the federal government to assist Hawaiian authorities before, during, and after tsunami hits.

"Same should be true for any potential tsunami impact on Alaska, west coast of continental United States, or U.S. territories in the Pacific. POTUS asked to be kept updated on developments, which Alyssa and I will do," the email noted.

Federal employees are allowed to use a private email account only as long as they forward government-related messages to their official work account in order to preserve the conversations so they can later be made available to the public or accessed by oversight groups. In 2017 the Trump administration was pilloried for allegedly failing to follow this rule.

To date Biden has not offered any explanation why his private email account was used and the emails were apparently not forwarded to secure government servers. The White House has yet to address why Biden chose to use fake account names. Ironically, Biden was vice-president when President Obama introduced on his first day in office, the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, boasting that it would usher in "a new era of open and accountable government meant to bridge the gap between the American people and their government."

The Archives says it has tens of thousands of such emails from three Biden personal pseudonym accounts used during his vice presidency.

One sensitive email hinted at frictions between Obama and Biden which emerged on television talk shows over the raid that killed reviled terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who ordered the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America. Biden had opposed the raid.

"Transcripts look great. I've got your back on the other thing," senior White House adviser Antony Blinken wrote Biden on Oct. 23, 2012, just a few weeks before the presidential elections. "Also I re-read that transcript and - - not that this is much better -- potus was not referring to decision to get bin laden but rather warning Pakistan. Goes back to 2008 campaign. I can explain."

Several of the more sensitive emails involved communications with Blinken, now Biden’s Secretary of State and then the vice president’s chief security adviser.

For instance, during a period of tensions between the Kurds and Iraqis in the Middle East, Blinken sent several emails to Biden with observations about the Mosul region on Aug. 22, 2012.

"Mosul -- is due west of Erbil BUT in Iraq proper, NOT in the KRG. It's just west of the green line on the Iraq side," Blinken wrote in one missive offering the vice president some geographic context.

A short while later, Blinken added some sensitive observations about possible violence,

"Further to this — there are parts of Ninewah Province that are disputed and a very small piece of Mosul itself, but the Kurds make no claim to the city as an entity. Lots of oil though, so could become a flash point," Blinken wrote.

Earlier releases by the National Archives to the Southeastern Legal Foundation and Just the News included more mundane transmissions of official government business, such as schedules and news clips. The latest batch had more foreign policy and security information in them.

One clear pattern is that Biden staffers felt comfortable sending official information to Biden’s pseudonymic accounts, including schedules of meetings, even when they involved sensitive figures.

For instance, White House official Cathy Cheung sent a tentative itinerary that revealed Biden was planning a private meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the Naval Observatory in fall 2012.

"Sir, this is what the day would look like if you depart on Thursday for the service," Cheung wrote Biden on his private email account. "AM — 30 minute meeting with Secretary Panetta at NavObs."

Link

Home Front: Politix

America First Legal sues FEC to force action on Hunter Biden laptop deniers during 2020 campaign

2024-03-03

*Snicker* Alinsky ‘em good, guys.

[FoxNews] AFL Legal claims the 51 former intelligence officials gave Biden an in-kind campaign contribution by calling the Hunter Biden laptop 'disinformation'.

After the Federal Election Commission declined to act against Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for the laptop-denying statement by 51 former intelligence officials, a conservative watchdog group is trying to force action.

America First Legal sued the FEC in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to force the agency that polices campaign donations and spending to act.

"The FEC decided we’re not going to act on this. So, what the district court will do, our hope, is that it will order the FEC to investigate and take this seriously," Daniel Epstein, vice president of America First Legal, told Fox News Digital.

In October, the group filed an FEC complaint against the Biden for President campaign from 2020, the Biden Victory Fund, the Biden Action Fund and the Democratic National Committee for failing to report indirect contributions from the later-debunked statement by the 51 officials released on October 19, 2020, just weeks before the November 8 election, and just days before a presidential debate.

The statement claimed without evidence that the Hunter Biden laptop was likely part of a "Russian disinformation" campaign.

If the FEC doesn’t act, it is "effectively encouraging disinformation to the public that may influence the election," Epstein continued.

An FEC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the agency doesn’t comment on litigation. Neither the 2024 Biden presidential campaign nor the DNC responded to inquiries for this story.

The FEC has 60 days to respond to the lawsuit. Epstein anticipates the agency will file a motion to remand the matter back to the FEC for investigation.

In March 2023, former Obama administration CIA Deputy and Acting Director Michael Morrell testified to the House Judiciary and House Intelligence Committees that on October 17, 2020, then-Biden campaign staffer Antony Blinken, now the secretary of state, contacted him to discuss drafting a statement to attack the Hunter Biden laptop story first reported by the New York Post.  Morrell circulated the statement among other anti-Trump former intelligence officials. The 51 former officials who signed on included Leon Panetta, John Brennan and James Clapper from the Barack Obama administration, as well as Michael Hayden from the George W. Bush administration — all vocal critics of Trump.

Eventually, both the New York Times and Washington Post verified the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop.

"Because Morrell, Brennan, Clapper, and the other signatories were supposedly ‘nonpartisan’ national security and intelligence experts, their public statement was a campaign contribution of substantial value to the respondents, who solicited the ‘Letter of 51’ from them for the express purpose of influencing the 2020 presidential election," the AFL lawsuit says. "Yet, the respondents failed to report the contribution and to identify the individuals who made it."

Link

Home Front: Politix

Is the Electoral Fix Already In?

2024-01-27

[Rachet News] The fix is in. To "protect democracy," democracy is already being canceled. We just haven’t admitted the implications of this to ourselves yet.

On Sunday, January 14th, NBC News ran an eye-catching story: "Fears grow that Trump will use the military in ’dictatorial ways’ if he returns to the White House." It described "a loose-knit network of public interest groups and lawmakers" that is "quietly" making plans to "foil any efforts to expand presidential power" on the part of Donald Trump.

The piece quoted an array of former high-ranking officials, all insisting Trump will misuse the Department of Defense to execute civilian political aims. Since Joe Biden’s team "leaked" a strategy memo in late December listing "Trump is an existential threat to democracy" as Campaign 2024’s central talking point, surrogates have worked overtime to insert existential or democracy in quotes. This was no different:

"We’re about 30 seconds away from the Armageddon clock when it comes to democracy," said Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, adding that Trump is "a clear and present danger to our democracy." Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward, one of the advocacy groups organizing the "loose" coalition, said, "We believe this is an existential moment for American democracy." Declared former CIA and defense chief Leon Panetta: "Like any good dictator, he’s going to try to use the military to basically perform his will."

Former Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice and current visiting Georgetown law professor Mary McCord was one of the few coalition participants quoted by name. She said:

Link

Government Corruption

Were 'Former Intel Officials' Who 'Debunked' Hunter's Laptop on the Klingon Payroll?

2023-12-10

[Hot Air] Jim Jordan has an extraordinary question for the CIA. One that would make the already bad look of the 51 former intelligence officials’ letter claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation" even worse.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is giving the CIA a week to share any information about payments to signers of the letter between January 1, 2020, and today.

We already know that CIA officers coordinated the campaign to get the letter published, violating the Hatch Act. Now, Jordan is implying that at least some signatories of the letter were getting direct payments from the CIA. There can be little doubt that they were already benefiting from their CIA connections, but direct payments would be even more damning.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Floating Down De Nile: Goldman Declares Hunter Biden Laptop May Be A Fake

2023-12-02

[jonathonturley.org] As Stuart Smiley said on SNL’s Daily Affirmation, "De Nile ain’t just a river in Egypt." Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman,

...former federal prosecutor, counsel for House Democrats during the first Trump impeachment, first term Congressman, lefty...

a member of the House Weaponization of Government committee,

...the Democrats are for it...

caused yet another firestorm of controversy in declaring that the Hunter laptop may be a fake.

That’s right. Despite media, American intelligence, and even other Democrats acknowledging the authenticity of the laptop, Goldman is still spreading denials . . . at a hearing on the weaponization of disinformation policies.

Goldman has previously been criticized for making the case against President Joe Biden in disastrous efforts to discredit whistleblowers.

As in past hearings, the Democrats opposed witnesses who tried to detail the growing evidence of a government-directed censorship system. Members like Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) continued to deny that there was any evidence of such censorship after spending years opposing the investigation of the program. Even with thousands of pages of evidence and a federal judge finding an "Orwellian" censorship system, Plaskett and her colleagues simply denied that such evidence exists.

However, it was Goldman who stole the show in an exchange with journalist Michael Shellenberger. Shellenberger referenced the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story before the election, a decision that Twitter and other companies now admit was wrong.

However, truth has never been a particularly appealing option for politicians, particularly when it must come with an acknowledgment of past culpability in spreading disinformation.

Recently, we discussed how Leon Panetta also doubled down recently on the claim that the laptop may still be Russian disinformation.

Goldman also opted for denial and distraction over honesty and transparency.

He told Shellenberger: "You’ve talked about the Hunter Biden laptop, and how the FBI knew it existed. You are aware, of course, that the laptop, so to speak, ... that was published in the New York Post, was actually a hard drive that the New York Post admitted here was not authenticated as real...It was not the laptop the FBI had. You’re aware of that right?"

Shellenberger responded: "It was the same contents."

Link

Government Corruption

FEC complaint alleges coordinated disinformation campaign from Biden's 2020 run

2023-11-10

[FoxNews] An America First Legal complaint argues that 51 former intelligence officials strategically crafted to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story.

An alleged campaign finance violation could ensnare Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 51 former senior intelligence officials who asserted without evidence in 2020 that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. 

America First Legal, a conservative organization run by former Donald Trump White House aide Stephen Miller, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in late October, alleging a "coordinated communication" and an unreported in-kind contribution to the Joe Biden presidential campaign and related entities, in violation of federal law.

"[The] evidence suggests that the respondents failed to disclose coordinated expenditures constituting in-kind donations with respect to the infamous ‘Letter of 51’ former intelligence officials claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop story had ‘all the classic earmarks’ of Russian disinformation," says the 13-page AFL complaint, with 110 accompanying pages of evidence.  

The FEC complaint claims that the Biden for President campaign in 2020, the Biden Victory Fund, the Democratic National Committee, and the Biden Action Fund should have reported on coordinating efforts.

The "Letter of 51" was released on Oct. 19, 2020, weeks before the Nov. 8 presidential election between Biden and Trump. 

The Obama administration officials who signed included former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Former George W. Bush DNI Michael Hayden, a vocal Trump critic, also signed.

The complaint notes that Panetta and Clapper donated to the Biden Victory Fund and the Biden for President campaign in 2020. 

In March, former CIA Deputy and Acting Director Michael Morrell testified to the House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committees that on Oct. 17, 2020, then-Biden campaign adviser Blinken contacted him to discuss the Hunter Biden laptop story first reported by the New York Post. 

The complaint cited an April statement from the House Judiciary Committee that summarized the Morrell testimony. 

"Morell testified that his communication with Blinken was one of a few communications he had with the Biden campaign, explaining that he also received a call from Steve Ricchetti, Chairman of the Biden campaign, following the October 22 debate to thank him for writing the statement," the House Judiciary Committee press release from April said. "Morell also explained that the Biden campaign helped to strategize about the public release of the statement. Morell further explained that one of his two goals in releasing the statement was to help then-[former] Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election."

The letter from intelligence officials provided cover and credibility for social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter to restrict the access and distribution of the Hunter Biden laptop story, first broken by the New York Post. Eventually, both the New York Times and Washington Post verified the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop. Also, during the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden, Biden referred to the laptop story as Russian disinformation.

"There are reasons to believe that the public statement by 51 former intelligence officials was a coordinated political operation to help elect Vice President Biden in the 2020 presidential election, as set forth below," the complaint to the FEC says. 

This fits a pattern of election meddling, said Reed D. Rubinstein, senior counselor and director of oversight and investigations for America First Legal. 

"In 2016, high-ranking federal intelligence officials interfered in a presidential election, lying about Russia collusion in a failed effort to elect Hilary Clinton," Rubinstein said in a statement. 

"In 2020, many of these same officials again interfered in a presidential election, lying about Hunter Biden," Rubenstein continued. "The Federal Election Commission’s charge includes election integrity — Americans have the right to know who is coordinating with federal candidates. But this right is only as effective as the agency that enforces it. The FEC must act here." 

Neither the Biden 2024 presidential campaign nor the Democratic National Committee responded to inquiries for this story. 

The State Department also did not respond to an inquiry about Blinken’s role from Fox News about the matter. 

The complaint alleges that the "51 former intelligence officials" statement was part of a carefully orchestrated effort to influence the 2020 election. AFL argued the Biden campaign, through key individuals, actively participated in drafting and disseminating the statement. The complaint argues that the 51 former intelligence officials' public statement was strategically crafted to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story, with the intent of aiding Joe Biden's campaign.

The complaint details communication between then-Biden campaign advisor Blinken and Morell regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story. For his part, Blinken has denied having a role. 

"There is reason to believe that the respondents failed to report the above contribution and to identify the individuals who made it," the complaint says. 

The complaint also alleges that the disinformation campaign should be considered a "coordinated communication" under FEC regulations, subject to reporting requirements.

The AFL complaint contends that the Biden campaign actively participated in drafting and disseminating the statement, utilizing the national security credentials of the former intelligence officials to downplay the Hunter Biden laptop revelations.

The complaint further references a survey that found almost four of five Americans who followed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal thought that honest news coverage would have changed the outcome of the election. The survey by Technometric Institute of Policy and Politics was released in August 2022. 

Link

-Great Cultural Revolution

Leon Panetta Refuses to Admit Hunter's Laptop was real

2023-10-15

From Turley's blog
[JonathanTurley] Last night, many of us responded to the statement of Leon Panetta, former CIA Director in the Obama Administration, that he "has no regrets" about signing the now infamous letter of 51 former intelligence officials suggesting that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. Even more unsettling were his comments that he believes it could still be Russian disinformation. It turns out that even with American intelligence, the media, and Hunter Biden himself acknowledging authenticity, it can still be Russian disinformation. Panetta has become the personification of the economic theory of path dependence. No matter how much countervailing evidence is presented to Panetta, he still refuses to accept the authenticity of the laptop.

In his interview on "Special Report," Panetta was asked by Bret Baier if he had any regrets about signing the letter, which was then used by Joe Biden in the debate to avoid answering questions about influence peddling by his family (and a virtual blackout of coverage before the election).

Panetta insisted that he had no regrets and then added that he has seen no intelligence that would make him change his mind.

Link

Government Corruption

Biden 2020 campaign had 'surreptitious involvement' in Russian disinfo hoax surrounding Post's Hunter laptop

2023-03-16

[NYPOST] Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. I'm not working for you. Don't be such a horse's ass. Don't say he didn't warn us...
’s 2020 presidential campaign had "surreptitious involvement" in organizing a letter written by 51 former intelligence officials that falsely claimed the New York Post’s story about Hunter Biden

...son of President Joe: cashiered from the Navy, a crackhead, wheeler dealer, leg humper, horn dog, and general all around ne'er do well. We're supposed to feel sorry for him...
’s laptop was Russian disinformation, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday.

The complaint, from lawyers for former President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
, asks the FEC to record the infamous "Dirty 51" letter as an "in-kind contribution" to Biden’s campaign because it allegedly was used to influence the outcome of the election.

The Oct. 19, 2020, letter was signed by 51 ex-spooks, including five former or acting CIA directors — John Brennan
...director of the CIA under the Obama administration. One of the deeper dwelling denizens of the Deep State, probably the guy who lit the match that launched the Russiagate coup attempt...
, Leon Panetta
...former SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993....
, Mike Hayden, John McLoughlin and Mike Morell — as well as James Clapper, the one-time director of national intelligence.

It was delivered to Politico five days after The Post ran its exposé, and three days before the final presidential debate of the election campaign, where Biden cited the letter to discredit evidence from the laptop showing he met his son’s overseas business partners while he was vice president.

"The speed with which this letter was written, and the number of Individual Respondents involved, points directly to the surreptitious involvement of the Biden Campaign in soliciting or organizing the drafters of the letter in a clear violation of [the Federal Election Campaign Act]," claims the FEC complaint to be filed this week by attorney Timothy Parlatore.

Link

-Land of the Free

Number of Imprisoned Veterans Concerns Former US Defense Chiefs

2023-03-06

They are also concerned in Afghanistan about our troops, it appears.

[ToloNews] Two former Iraq and Afghanistan War-era defense secretaries are recommending that the government consider new ways to ensure that military service is taken into account when courts prosecute former service members.

The Veterans Justice Commission, led by onetime Pentagon chiefs Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta
...former SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993....
, offered that guidance after reports that a concerning number of veterans have been convicted of crimes since leaving military service.

The commission was tasked with examining the extent to which veterans are getting in trouble with the law, whether they are receiving appropriate transitional assistance when they no longer are in the armed services and how they are treated once they enter the criminal justice system.

Both Hagel and Panetta led the Defense Department during the Iraq War, which marks its 20th anniversary this month, and the Afghanistan War, which ended abruptly in 2021 when U.S. forces withdrew from Kabul.

Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, said many of the stressors his generation faced are similar to those for this new generation of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, except that the United States had never been in a 20-year long conflict and there were unprecedented demands that the multiple, prolonged deployments put on the relatively small pool of people who serve.

While most veterans transition into civilian life without incident, the commission found that as many as 1 in 3 of the nation’s 19 million military veterans have reported being arrested at least once in their lifetime, and that about 181,500 veterans are incarcerated and make up about 8 percent of the state prison population and 5 percent of the federal prison population.

For comparison, less than 1 percent of all U.S. adults volunteer to serve, according to the Pew Research Center.

Those risks for veterans are elevated by post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and substance abuse issues, the report said. "Once ensnared by the system, veterans often present a complex set of needs and risk factors that are distinctive from those characteristic of civilians without a military background. But multiple barriers prevent many veterans from receiving the targeted interventions they need," the report found.

Instead of prison sentences, the commission has recommended that state and federal statutes should "create or expand judicial diversion," which would establish alternative treatments that could potentially allow for reduced charges, to avoid conviction or have a sentence lowered.

Some of alternatives could include requiring veterans to enter and complete Veteran’s Treatment Centers programs that would allow them to address underlying issues that led to the criminal activity, and involving victims or family members to be involved in the supervision and treatment process of the veteran.

"These veterans who do get in trouble, we’re not saying that they don’t have a price to pay, and they’re not going to serve their time, and that they’re not going to pay for whatever offense they may have committed," Panetta said during a virtual media briefing of the commission’s findings. "What we are saying is by virtue of the fact that they did serve in uniform, and that they are veteran, that there are interventions that can be made, that they’re entitled to, by virtue of being a veteran."

The multiple deployments "do have some impact" on the likelihood of incarceration, said commission director Army Col. Jim Seward.

Beyond the prison alternatives, the commission is recommending that Congress should review how effective state and national databases are at identifying a person’s veteran status, and that military service and specifically combat exposure should be considered at sentencing, including in cases that involving violence.

"Too many veterans are ending up in our criminal justice system, and while they must be held accountable for their behavior, our nation has a responsibility to honor their service and help them address the factors that often drive them to break the law," Hagel said.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Justice coming for the ‘Dirty 51' Hunter Biden laptop liars

2022-05-20

[NYP] One of the most galling aspects of the Hunter Biden laptop saga is that the 51 former intelligence officials who played such a critical role in suppressing The Post’s stories and giving Joe Biden cover before the 2020 election have never been brought to account.

The "Dirty 51" lied by painting our stories as Russian disinformation in an Oct. 19, 2020, letter they signed and delivered to Politico five days after The Post exposé and three days before the final presidential debate of the election campaign.

They used the institutional weight of their powerful former roles to legitimize partisan political propaganda designed to smear The Post and everyone associated with the story and dissuade the rest of the media from looking deeper into the laptop.

The letter, titled "Public Statement on the Hunter Biden emails," and signed by former CIA Directors John Brennan, Leon Panetta and Mike Hayden, former acting CIA Director Michael Morell, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other ex-spooks, claimed the material on Hunter’s hard drive "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation," although not one of them had seen it.

Their lie "probably affected the outcome" of the 2020 presidential race, as former Attorney General William Barr has said, describing the letter as "partisan hackery," "baseless" and signed by "a coterie of retired intelligence officials who had lost their professional bearings."

Yet they have never apologized or retracted their lie. In fact, when The Post contacted the group in March, after the New York Times belatedly acknowledged the laptop was real, some, like Clapper, doubled down.

Link

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