Category: Legal

  • 2 more “Norfolk Four” cases tossed

    2 more “Norfolk Four” cases tossed

    19norf190.2

    The Associated Press reports that two sailors who had been convicted of rape and murder in a 1997 case have been exonerated by a judge. Danial Williams and Joseph Dick have been out of jail since 2009, but they were still serving parole for the rape and murder of Michelle Moore-Bosko. U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. threw out the rape and murder convictions of the two former sailors giving prosecutors 60 days to decide whether or not they want to re-try the case;

    Derek Tice, another member of the Norfolk Four, had his conviction overturned in 2009. Eric Wilson, who was convicted only of the rape, has been unable to convince courts to do the same because he already completed his sentence. Williams, Dick and Tice were still on parole when they challenged their convictions.

    DNA evidence in the case matched a fifth man, Omar Ballard, who confessed to committing the crime alone. He is serving a life sentence.

    […]

    That detective, Robert Glenn Ford, was convicted in 2011 of extortion and lying to the FBI in unrelated cases. He is serving 121/2 years in prison for taking tens of thousands of dollars from drug dealers in exchange for getting them favorable treatment at sentencing.

  • A Quick Rundown on the Current Clintoon Investigations

    No, I’m not going to list the details – because it seems the UK’s Daily Mail has already done that.  You can read their rundown here.  It’s pretty decent.

    However, as a rundown concerning Clintoon sleaze it’s unfortunately quite incomplete.  It doesn’t even mention Bill “Have a Cigar” Clintoon and his adventures on the “Lolita Express” – or his past sexual “misadventures”.  Or the Whitewater matter.  Or on the White House travel office persecution.  Or apparent DNC dirty dealing connected to the current campaign.  Or a host of other questionable conduct by one or both Clintoons.

    Still, what’s there is quite . . . interesting – and hugely damning for those not wearing ideological blinders.

    Sheesh.  You or I would be in jail by now.  And we’d have been there for months if not years.

  • Yeah, Looks Like the POTUS Lied. Again. Surprised?

    Last March, the POTUS was asked when he learned about the Clintoon “private” email server.

    His response?  “The same time everybody else learned it through news reports.”

    Well, it looks like the man either is monumentally dense – or he       shamelessly lied through his teeth       “misspoke” here.  Because here’s a quote from an email written by Cheryl Mills, a close Clintoon confident, late that night.  The email was written after Mills had learned of the POTUS’s statement.

    “We need to clean this up – he has emails from her – they do not say state.gov.”

    Oopsie.

    Yeah, it certainly seems the POTUS lied.  Again.

    So . . . what else is new?

    . . .

    Let’s recap the Clintoon email matter.  Here are my “Top 10 Hits” from the whole matter.

    1. While SECSTATE, Clintoon used an unauthorized, “private” and abysmally-badly secured email server to conduct government business.  This is against US government policy, and arguably violates Federal law.

    2.  As the second link above also shows, Clintoon had the State department change IT policy so she could use her “private” Blackberry and that unauthorized “private” email account from within secure DoS areas.

    3.  The POTUS received email from Clintoon originating at her “private”, unauthorized email address.  Given Mills’ concern, obviously at least some of that email to the POTUS from Clintoon’s unauthorized “private” email server was both official business and was sent while Clintoon was SECSTATE.

    4.  The POTUS thus knew that Clintoon was using a private email address for official government business prior to 7 March 2015.  (Well, either that or he’s a totally clueless fool – take your pick.  A “.com” email address isn’t one provided by the US government.)  But when asked point-blank when and how he learned Clintoon was using an unauthorized private address for government business, he publicly lied about when he learned that fact.

    5.  Multiple instances of highly classified material were later found to have been stored on Clintoon’s unauthorized, poorly-secured “private” server – including both SCI and Special Access Program material.  Some of it was marked properly; much of the more sensitive material should have been blindingly obvious as classified to someone with Clintoon’s experience and security indoctrinations, whether marked or not.

    6.  None of those classified spills were reported by Clintoon (or anyone else) when discovered, as is required by Federal law.  Intentional failure to report such unauthorized storage of classified information is a Federal felony.

    7.  Once the matter became public, Clintoon’s unauthorized, unsecured “private” email server was wiped.  It appears to have been wiped well after the Federal government had begun investigating the matter.  Sophisticated tools were used to wipe it. The administrator of Clintoon’s unauthorized “private” email server apparently also sought advice on how to sanitize “VIP identities” from email archives on Reddit – also after the Federal government had begun investigating the matter.

    8.  It’s a shoe-in that Clintoon’s p!ss-poorly secured server was penetrated by foreign intelligence services.  It likely was penetrated by more than one such foreign intelligence service.

    9.  Material contained on that unsecured, unauthorized email server was sufficient to identify at least one US intelligence source.  That source was later taken into custody and executed by the nation about which he was providing information to the US.

    10.  The FBI whitewashed the whole matter, and refused to prosecute clear and obvious violations of Federal law.

    Those are just the national security-related “hits”.  I haven’t even touched on the evidence of possible “pay-for-play” corruption, abuse of government resources, and unethical DNC-press collusion the Clintoon emails recovered or made public to date seem to show.

    You or I would be in jail by now.

    I guess it’s good to have serious “top cover”.

  • Bill to make trading in Purple Heart Medals illegal proposed

    Bill to make trading in Purple Heart Medals illegal proposed

    In 2009, Zach Fike’s mother gave him for Christmas a Purple Heart Medal that she bought. It had belonged to the family of Corrado Piccoli who had been killed in action in France during World War II. Zach, now a major in the Vermont National Guard and a Purple Heart recipient himself was spurred to return the medal to the family. That led to the founding of Purple Hearts Reunited that returns found Purple Hearts and other medals to families.

    Now, according to the Military Times, Republican Representative Paul Cook has introduced a bill that would make buying and selling Purple Heart Medals a Federal crime.

    Republican Rep. Paul Cook introduced legislation last week which would make selling the medal punishable by fines and up to six months in prison. Online retailers price the military honors at several hundred dollars each, more if they can document who the original recipient was.

    “These military collectors cheapen the Purple Heart by buying and selling this symbol of sacrifice like a pack of baseball cards,” said Cook, who served 26 years in the Marine Corps before joining Congress, rising to the rank of colonel and receiving two Purple Hearts for injuries sustained during the Vietnam War.

    […]

    Cook’s bill would place the Purple Heart into a new protected category, keeping it away from not just con artists but also memorabilia collectors. Officials from the Military Order of the Purple Heart applauded the idea.

    The medal is awarded for wounds or death caused by an armed enemy in combat, the Purple Heart is the oldest military award still given to U.S. military members, it predecessor was known as the Badge of Military Merit, and tracks it’s history to George Washington’s Continental Army.

    The bill would not affect the sales of veterans selling their own medals, or their families selling one that they inherit, according to Cook.

  • Ongoing Pattern of Fraud? Sure Looks Like It to Me.

    What would you think of an organization that did the following:

    apparently sought out lower-income individuals;

    solicited funds from them via small credit-card donations, purportedly on a “one-time basis”;

    on a recurring basis, processed multiple such “one-time” donations against donors vice the single donation that was authorized;

    did all of the above to a number of individuals every month;

    gave these individuals the “run-around” regarding returning unauthorized donations when they complained; and

    appeared to take great pains to keep the unauthorized total received through such shady actions from any single individual below the known thresholds ($100 on a given account) at which credit card companies begin to investigate fraud?

    Oh, and did I mention that this is reputedly precisely the method used by some shady pr0n companies to scam extra money from their customers?

    Don’t know about you, but it certainly looks to me like “an apparent pattern of ongoing and repetitive small-scale fraud.”  And I might call the folks doing it sleazy bastards who were running a scam targeting those who can least afford the financial hit.

    Now, what would you think about a national political campaign that did that? Hypothetically speaking, of course?

    Well, maybe you don’t have to think hypothetically. According to this article from Observer.com, apparently the Clintoon Campaign appears to have been doing exactly this during the current election cycle.  (FWIW:  the publisher of Observer Media, which owns Observer.com, is related to Donald Trump by marriage.  That fact is fully disclosed in the linked article.  That fact is also completely irrelevant if what’s reported is true.)

    It’s not the first time the Clintoon Campaign has done something along these lines, either. As reported by that charter member of the “vast right-wing conspiracy” the New York Times back in 2007, there’s some indication that Clintoon’s campaign might possibly have been doing something similar back then, too.  Hell, even the       Useful Idiots       “Progressives” over at Daily KOS were raising a stink concerning the issue back then.

    In contrast, the Trump campaign doesn’t appear to be doing anything similar.   Per the article, Wells Fargo – whose customers have reported extensive problems along these lines from the Clintoon Campaign – has reportedly received no such complaints from Trump supporters.

    Sheesh. You or I would have been in jail by now.

  • More Evidence of Clintoon “Pay for Play”? Sure Looks Like It – Part II

    I’ve written about this subject before (and before, and before).  But it’s the “gift that keeps on giving”.

    Or perhaps that should read that it’s the “corruption that reeks to high heaven”.  Because at first glance, that’s exactly what it looks like.

    We know that Clintoon Foundation donors and/or executives appear to have gotten “preferred access” when it came to personal meetings with a certain SECSTATE between 2009 and early 2013.  But it seems that they may have gotten some other perks, too.

    In particular, it appears that one of those “other perks” in some cases may have been unwarranted diplomatic passports.  Unwarranted, as in “issued to private individuals who do not travel on diplomatic business for the United States”.

    And yeah:  as was the case with preferred access, it looks like Clintoon’s “protégé” Huma Abedin was involved hip-deep in this as well.

    Predictably, Clintoon’s        naive sycophants and/or paid “spin doctors”         supporters have sought to downplay this latest revelation.  They’ve claimed that some of those folks “were actually at times engaged in diplomatic efforts”.

    Yeah, right.  Sure they were.  Just like I’m the freaking King of Siam.

    The Daily Caller has a short article giving a few details; Fox News has a longer one giving more.  Both articles IMO are worthwhile – if disgusting – reading.

    You or I would be in jail by now.

  • “Medical” Marijuana Card? “No guns for you!”

    The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has once again made an . . . interesting ruling.  This time it concerns gun ownership.

    Predictably, the 9th Circuit came down on the side of restricting gun ownership. But this case has a few twists.  And I’ll be damned if I don’t think the 9th Circuit might actually have gotten this one correct, legally speaking.

    Hey – stopped clocks are right twice daily, remember?

    The case in question involves both marijuana and firearms.  Some states issue “medical” marijuana cards to people authorized to purchase the drug for “medicinal” purposes.  Yes, the quotes here are intentional.  Anyone with half a brain knows that a substantial percentage of such applications for the “medical” use of marijuana are bogus.

    However, while marijuana has been “decriminalized” by some states, its use remains unlawful under Federal law. And Federal law currently bans the possession of firearms by those who use illegal drugs.

    Regarding the case in question:  it seems a lady in Nevada having such a “medical” marijuana card applied to purchase a firearm.  The dealer refused to sell her one, citing BATFE guidance that they could assume – based on the her having been issued a “medical” marijuana card – that she was a user of marijuana and thus lawfully could not purchase a firearm.

    The lady took the matter to Federal court.  To her chagrin, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the BATFE’s interpretation of Federal law.  They ruled that she could indeed be presumed to be a user of marijuana, which is still illegal under Federal law – and was therefore not legally entitled to purchase or possess a firearm.

    So:  in 9 western states, having a “medical” marijuana card now also means, “No gun for you!”  Presumably the same is also true for those having prescriptions and other certifications allowing “medical” marijuana use within one of those 9 states.

    I personally love the irony here.  Many if not most favoring wholesale legalization of marijuana are politically leftward-leaning.  Well, in any of the 9 western states 9th Circuit states where “medical” use of marijuana has now been made legal, this ruling appears to say that if someone gets some form of permit allowing “medical” use of marijuana . . . they’ve just effectively declared themselves to be a drug user – and can no longer can legally purchase or possess a firearm.

    Law of unintended consequences?  You betcha.  That law is always in effect.

  • The Clintoon “Private” Email Saga Continues . . . .

    Well, Clintoon’s “private” email is in the news again.

    Yeah, so what else is new?  Hell, I’ve written about it so many times now that a Google search of this site for the terms “Clintoon” and “email” turns up more than two pages of previous stories.

    In any case:  a few days ago I wrote that even more previously unreleased Clintoon email had been recovered recently by the FBI.  “Even more”, as in about 50% of the amount previously turned over by Clintoon’s lawyers.

    Supposedly, only non-work-related email wasn’t returned by Clintoon’s lawyers to the State Department 2 years ago.  You know, stuff about yoga, recipes, vacation plans and the like.  But rather obviously that claim now . . . seems suspect.  Highly suspect.

    Anyone wanna guess what I’m about to tell you today?

    Well, that’s actually a trick question; today you might well be wrong if you guessed.  No, there hasn’t been yet another batch of Clintoon “private” email located or recovered.

    However, it seems that some of the newly-recovered emails appear . . . interesting. Some of these new emails appear to be from mid-September 2012.  And among the new stuff around 30 emails – including some from mid-September 2012 – appear to concern something called “Benghazi”.

    Yeah, that Benghazi.  The same Benghazi where 4 Americans died while the Federal government sat around for hours with its thumb firmly inserted, doing nothing.

    I somehow just don’t think the Clintoons were planning a North African yoga vacation or discussing a local restaurant serving “Benghazi couscous” in those mid-September 2012 emails.  And of course all of those newly recovered emails that weren’t previously turned over were deleted “by accident” – not to cover up anything.

    Oh, and it also appears that Clintoon continued to send and/or receive classified email at that “private” account months after she left the State Department.

    Damn.  You or I would be in jail by now.