This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Crime

  • Yer “Private” Email Update

    Here’s the latest update on the Clintoon email server brouhaha.

    • Number of classified emails found on that “private” server? Now approaching 200 – 188 (125 + 63), to be precise.

    • How did that classified email get there?   Good question. Apparently, it  either “magically” moved between air-gapped systems or was deliberately moved to or created on State Department unclassified systems without proper markings.

    • But the State Department IT staff knew about Clintoon’s private server and gave their OK, right? In a word: no.

    • Oh and that private email server? It appears to have been on the same network – and maybe the same physical machine – as the Clinton Foundation email server.  Compromise one, you compromise both – and does anyone really think that the Clinton Foundation wasn’t high-profile enough to be a hacker target?   In any case, it’s a good bet that the network admins would have had access to both to some degree.

    • Some of the email on that server was, shall we say, “interesting” DoS business. One email apparently included a discussion of impeaching a sitting SCOTUS justice.

    Finally, in unrelated email news: a Federal judge has ruled that the IRS cannot refuse to produce White House emails relating to individual tax returns under the FOIA by refusing to say whether or not the records even exist. The IRS was apparently doing exactly that for FOIA requests relating to the IRS nonprofit scandal headed up by a lady named Lois Lerner.

     

    With apologies to the late Dezi Arnez, in his “Ricky Ricardo” role:  “Lois, Hill’ry – ladies, looks like you both got some ‘splainin’ to do!”

  • “Toby Miles”, You Got Some ‘Splainin’ To Do

    In fact, it looks like “Toby Miles” could well be in big trouble.

    What, you don’t recognize the name?  Well, don’t feel bad.  That’s by design.

    That was the name used for the third email account Lois Lerner used to conduct “official business” while executing her politically-driven hatchet work at the IRS.  The IRS apparently “just realized that” while responding judge’s order to turn documents related to Lerner over to Judicial Watch .

    The Washington Times has a good article on this bit of new news.  It’s IMO worth a read.

  • David Lawrence Helm; Air Force sex offender gets 25 years

    David Lawrence Helm; Air Force sex offender gets 25 years

    David Lawrence Helm

    David Lawrence Helm an Air Force Tech Sergeant pleaded guilty to desertion and “recording the private area of a woman” according to Fox News. The article says that he was accused of sexually assaulting a girl between the ages of 12 & 16, but some of the charges were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea. The desertion thing happened when he was supposed to show up for a court martial in May, but chose to go to Vegas instead;

    A spokesman for the Nevada State Highway Patrol said Helm told a trooper that he visited Las Vegas, went skydiving and drove a high-performance race car as part of his “bucket list.” Helm was pulled over for having a broken tail light on his motorcycle. A search of his license plate turned up the fugitive arrest warrant.

    Happy trails, Dave.

  • BOLO; Thomas Manning Hook

    BOLO; Thomas Manning Hook

    Thomas Manning Hook1

    There’s this fellow from Florida by the name of Thomas Manning Hook who is a registered sex offender and he’s on the loose. He pretends to be a wounded Marine major with “metal plates all over his body” from a number of surgeries. It’s part of his schtick to gain sympathy and lure in his victims. He also impersonates a police officer. Here’s an article from about five years ago, the last time he was arrested;

    Another shopper caught his attention. Grubb knew Thomas Manning Hook was a registered sex offender. He knew Hook had a history of impersonating cops. Then Grubb saw something that made him abandon his shopping cart: Hook had a sheriff’s badge clipped to his waist.

    Grubb thought: This guy has to be stopped.

    Grubb might have prevented a sex crime when he recognized Hook stealing cookies and children’s sticker books at the Dunedin Publix on Wednesday night, authorities said.

    Hook had a stun gun in his car, which resembled a police cruiser, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies also found dating advertisements and ads placed on Craigslist by women seeking a male roommate.

    Hook's CrownVic

    Well, according to folks who know stuff, he left Florida without telling authorities, and that’s a crime in itself. But he was last reported to be in Oklahoma City. According to Florida, his victim in 1992 was a full grown woman, not a minor, but that can change, I suppose. He uses several aliases, too.

  • Ever Wondered “Why Platte River Networks”?

    Ever wonder why Clintoon chose Platte River Networks to host her private email server?  Well, it appears that the UK’s Daily Mail got curious about that too.

    So they tracked down a few former Platte River Networks employees and asked them some questions.

    This is what they found.   I’ll warn ya:  “It ain’t pretty.”  But the article does appear to have a good timeline of what happened when.

    Color me unsurprised.  When it comes to the Clintoons and how they operate, insider connections and plausible deniability seem to be primary concerns.

    The linked article is IMO worth a read.  But after reading it, I can’t say I’ll be surprised if it turns out there really aren’t any existing backups of Clintoon’s server.

  • Here Ya Go – A “Private” Email Update

    Here’s the latest on the continuing saga of the Clintoon “private” email brouhaha.

    • The number of “private” emails in Clintoon’s stash that have been reviewed and found to contain classified information now stands at at least 60.

    • A guy named Bob Woodward says that the whole thing “reminds me of the Nixon tapes” – and he’d probably know a thing or two about the Watergate scandal.

    • The Washington Times also discusses a whole host of procedural irregularities regarding the handling of Clintoon’s “private” emails.

    • And, finally, we have this from ABC News, courtesy of YouTube:

    Might want to tighten up that shoulder harness, Madam Former SECSTATE. It looks like the ride’s about to get bumpy.

    But your husband seems to be handling the stress of the situation fairly well. Maybe you also should hit the links to relax – instead of the campaign trail.

    (Hat tip to Drudge for the first 4 links.)

     

    UPDATE:  later reporting says the number of emails possibly containing classified information now exceeds 300.

  • “Curiouser and Curiouser”, Said . . . Pretty Much Everyone

    By now, I’d guess everybody has heard about former SECSTATE Clinton’s use of a private email server for official business email.

    While Clinton’s private email server appears to have been wiped clean of data before being turned over to Federal authorities, copies of many emails it formerly stored were apparently transferred to a USB “thumb drive”. That thumb drive was in turn apparently transferred to Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall in December of last year.

    A sample of email stored on that thumb drive was later reviewed by Intelligence Community (IC) officials. Those IC officials determined that some of those emails were contained classified information.

    That determination happened on 22 May of this year. But it wasn’t until early July that Federal authorities delivered a GSA-approved safe allowing proper storage of classified information to Kendall’s offices.

    So, riddle me this. How and where was that classified thumb drive stored between 22 May and early July? Why wasn’t that thumb drive turned over to the government – perhaps in a sealed envelope after a joint inspection by Clinton’s and the Federal government’s lawyers – on or about 23 May in order to ensure it was properly stored and safeguarded?

    And, perhaps most importantly – besides Clinton and her Kendall, who else had access to the device between 22 May and early July?

    Inquiring minds want to know!

     

    FWIW: it also appears that Clinton’s aide and confidante extraordinaire, Huma Abedin, also had and used an account on that email server. And it still remains unclear whether the internet hosting service from which Clintoon rented the server – Platte River Networks – did or did not maintain a backup server that might shed further light on these . . . somewhat unusual goings on.

    I just don’t think we’ve heard the last of this.  Stay tuned.

  • About That Clinton “Private Email” Server . . . .

    Well, this just keeps getting “better and better”.

    It turns out that the “private email server” that the former SECSTATE was using for work-related purposes wasn’t a stand-alone machine. Rather, it was apparently a server rented from an internet hosting company named “Platte River Networks”. The physical machinery was located in a data center in New Jersey; the precise ownership of that data center is unclear (hosting vendors sometimes lease physical hardware from other firms).

    And as the old Ronco TV ads said:  “But wait, there’s more!”  It also appears that when initially set up – e.g., for the first 2 to 3 months – the server had abysmally weak security overall, making it vulnerable to potential spoofing, monitoring, and unauthorized access.  And it also appears that the email stored on the server may never have been encrypted while in storage.

    Did I mention that Clinton traveled extensively during her first 3 months in office – including visits to Japan, Indonesia, Korea, China, Egypt, Israel, Belgium, Switzerland, and Turkey?

    The server was picked up by Federal agents on Wednesday of this week. But it seems there’s one last minor issue.

    That issue is that the server has been wiped clean – apparently professionally. There’s no useful information left on it, and the hosting company doesn’t have any backup copies of what it formerly contained.

    Hmm. Stonewall for months, then turn over a machine that has been professionally wiped. Yeah, that sounds completely innocent and aboveboard to me.

    Move along, folks. Nothing to see here.