Occupying Main Street, I.R.S.-Style?

BACK WHEN “OCCUPY WALL STREET” was a thing, around 2011, if I recall, I headed downtown to see the spectacle with my own two eyes because, you know, fake news and all. This was pre-Trump. “Fake news” wasn’t really a thing back then, but shadows of a secretive Deep State had emerged in the public consciousness. This was post-Snowden. I wanted to reach my own conclusions.

For a motley mass of degenerates, the occupiers were pretty organized. The sub-groups, of which there were many (ranging from the truly apolitical to Paulist libertarianism to LaRouchite dirigisme to Marxist socialism) seemed to take shifts to talk to the curiosity-seekers. They didn’t proselytize, they just complained about pet issues. They even had a community newspaper which they disseminated if they thought you’d bother to look at it. I kept mine as a collector’s item. I wonder if it’ll ever be worth anything?

When I was observing, asking questions, and reaching my own conclusions, an uneasiness surfaced. I had noticed, not just the NYPD communications van conspicuously monitoring everything, but some vehicles cruising around that were marked “Federal Reserve Police.” I had never heard of such a thing. Not that I would have. And not that it might not make sense to have police protect all the gold we supposedly have — I say “supposedly” because although I recall seeing bars of bullion through glass and iron bars in a field trip to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York on a college field trip for the Business/Economics Club, memory can be a funny thing. Maybe I just thought I saw it. Maybe it was decoy-gold. Who knows? What made me vaguely anxious was why the Federal Reserve Police were there at all. Someone ‘wanded’ me and my club members in college prior to entry, but I really don’t remember if they were even police. I seem to think they were unarmed civilians back then.

Yes, the streets the Occupiers took over in Zuccotti Park were close to the gold, fake or real as it may be, but did anyone believe these rag-a-tags posed any risk to the gold reserves? Maybe they had intelligence, maybe it was an abundance of caution, but stranger things have happened. Just how many police, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies do we need, anyway? Especially when they are secretive, unknown, or extrajudicial. Anyway, that was my biggest takeaway from my Occupy Wall Street foray that day. (I had just learned about so-called fusion centers, so expansive surveillance in the name of ‘security’ was on my mind.) Having thus buried my lede through my reminiscences, I’ll get to my point: I had that same uneasiness reading today about the I.R.S.’s supply of arms and munitions, especially under the illegitimate Biden regime. Americans for Tax Reform published a story reporting that the I.R.S. had stockpiled close to 5,000 guns and a staggering five million rounds of ammo as of 2019. Their information came from a 2020 report from OpenTheBooks, a nonprofit seeking to bring transparency to government spending. A.T.R. wonders how this will work with the Biden regime’s hiring of another 87,000 more agents, noting that the increase in the size and power of the agency has “significant criminal justice and basic due process ramifications.” Even without the proposed $80 billion increase in its budget, the I.R.S. Criminal Investigation Division is already very heavily armed. The Government Accountability Office reports the firearms breakdown thusly: 539 long-barrel rifles and 15 sub-machine guns. For ammo, there are 3,151,500 pistol and revolver rounds; 1,472,050 rifle rounds; 367,750 shotgun rounds; and 56,000 fully automatic firearm rounds. (And to think, despite the Second Amendment, Americans fear losing their rights to own weapons as the latest case is argued in the U.S. Supreme Court.)

A.T.F. cites seven reasons to be concerned about the I.R.S. gaining more power and weapons just in case someone might be at a loss to make educated guesses. First, the I.R.S. doesn’t give agents mandatory firearms training. Second, I.R.S. agents accidentally fire their weapons more frequently than they intentionally do. Third, The I.R.S. hides accidental discharge information. Fourth, agents sometimes don’t undergo remedial training after negligent discharges. Fifth, the I.R.S. has a tendency of violating due process rights of taxpayers. Sixth, the I.R.S. reportedly has extremely poor habits when it comes to storing critical evidence. And lastly, The agency has conducted an inordinate number of armed raids on innocent Americans. Remember Loretta Lynch? Remember the weaponization of the I.R.S. under Obama?

It all seems to me to add up to the unequivocal conclusion that federal income taxation should be abolished in favor of a so-called fair or flat tax, one that requires virtually no enforcement mechanisms at all. It’s safer and cheaper. As for the Federal Reserve Police? It’s a Patriot Act creation, so it was probably opportunistic and therefore unnecessary.

America’s Black and Blue.

The so-called Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests aren’t what they purport to be.  And the participants aren’t the “peaceful protesters” they claim they are.

Forget About Russia. Black Lives Matter Doesn’t Need Help in Interfering in Our Elections.

Even back in 2015, there was speculation that George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (O.S.F.) funded Black Lives Matter (B.L.M.). B.L.M. just never seemed like an organic grass roots movement. The director of the U.S. programs at O.S.F., Ken Zimmerman, vehemently denied it at the time, though. But by 2016, documents were published online that showed the O.S.F. board approved $650,000 for B.L.M. two months earlier.

The FBI Needs To Be Investigated

Image: Pixabay

Over the weekend, it was revealed that five months’ worth of texts between FBI agent Peter Strzok and his extra-marital paramour DOJ attorney Lisa Page were not recoverable due to an unspecified technical problem. Of course, if it had the will, the government would find a way, just as they did in the infamous iPhone case. But the institutional anti-Trump bias within the ranks of top law enforcement would be too embarrassing to reveal. Plus, it might suggest that it also hadn’t done enough to unearth all of Hillary Clinton’s missing emails.

Five Months’ Worth of Missing Text Messages? What a Surprise!

Over the weekend, the Justice Department turned over some additional text messages authored or received by disgraced counterintelligence FBI agent, Peter Strzok, to Congress.

For vague technical reasons, however, the chain of text messages was incomplete, missing some five months’ worth of communications between December 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch Sued

 

The American Center for Law and Justice filed an action in federal court against the Obama administration to demand information about the secret rendezvous Loretta Lynch had with Bill Clinton in a private plane on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on June 27, 2016.

 

Lynch holds the top post as Attorney General at the Department of Justice which, days after the secret meeting, declined to prosecute Hillary Clinton in the ongoing email scandal which has plagued her presidential campaign.

According to Ed Klein in his book, Guilty as Sin, Bill Clinton had shouted to a Secret Service agent, “Don’t take off!” when he learned Lynch’s plane was about to land.  The two then spent a half-hour chatting privately.

Lynch later told the local CNN affiliate, “Our conversation was a great deal about grandchildren, it was primarily social about our travels and he mentioned golf he played in Phoenix.”

But for an observant local reporter, the exchange between Lynch and the former president could have remained secret forever.

Bret Baier: FBI Sources Believe Clinton Foundation Case Moving Towards “Likely an Indictment”

Posted By Tim Hains
On Date November 2, 2016

Bret Baier: FBI Sources Believe Clinton Foundation Case Moving Towards “Likely an Indictment”

Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier reports the latest news about the Clinton Foundation investigation from two sources inside the FBI. He reveals five important new pieces of information in these two short clips:

Related Video: Monica Crowley: The Classified Emails Are “Shiny Object” To Distract From Clinton Foundation Corruption

1. The Clinton Foundation investigation is far more expansive than anybody has reported so far and has been going on for more than a year.

2. The laptops of Clinton aides Cherryl Mills and Heather Samuelson have not been destroyed, and agents are currently combing through them. The investigation has interviewed several people twice, and plans to interview some for a third time.

3. Agents have found emails believed to have originated on Hillary Clinton’s secret server on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. They say the emails are not duplicates and could potentially be classified in nature.

4. Sources within the FBI have told him that an indictment is “likely” in the case of pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation, “barring some obstruction in some way” from the Justice Department.

5. FBI sources say with 99% accuracy that Hillary Clinton’s server has been hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, and that information had been taken from it.

Transcript:

BRET BAIER: Breaking news tonight — two separate sources with intimate knowledge of the FBI investigations into the Clinton emails and the Clinton Foundation tell Fox the following:

The investigation looking into possible pay-for-play interaction between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Foundation has been going on for more than a year. Led by the white collar crime division, public corruption branch of the criminal investigative division of the FBI.

The Clinton Foundation investigation is a, quote, “very high priority.” Agents have interviewed and reinterviewed multiple people about the Foundation case, and even before the WikiLeaks dumps, agents say they have collected a great deal of evidence. Pressed on that, one sources said, quote, “a lot of it,” and “there is an avalanche of new information coming every day.”

Some of it from WikiLeaks, some of it from new emails. The agents are actively and aggressively pursuing this case. They will be going back to interview the same people again, some for the third time.

As a result of the limited immunity deals to top aides, including Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson, the Justice Department had tentatively agreed that the FBI would destroy those laptops after a narrow review. We are told definitively that has not happened. Those devices are currently in the FBI field office here in Washington, D.C. and are being exploited.

The source points out that any immunity deal is null and void if any subject lied at any point in the investigation.

Meantime, the classified e-mail investigation is being run by the National Security division of the FBI. They are currently combing through former Democratic Congressman Anthony Wiener’s laptop and have found e-mails that they believe came from Hillary Clinton’s server that appear to be new, as in not duplicates.

Whether they contain classified material or not is not yet known. It will likely be known soon. All of this just as we move inside one week until election day.

http://content.jwplatform.com/players/Efn3sZyp-EAYoNgFe.html

Baier gives more details to Fox News Channel’s Brit Hume.

Transcript:

BRET BAIER: Here’s the deal: We talked to two separate sources with intimate knowledge of the FBI investigations. One: The Clinton Foundation investigation is far more expansive than anybody has reported so far… Several offices separately have been doing their own investigations.

Two: The immunity deal that Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson, two top aides to Hillary Clinton, got from the Justice Department in which it was beleived that the laptops they had, after a narrow review for classified materials, were going to be destroyed. We have been told that those have not been destroyed — they are at the FBI field office here on Washington and are being exploited. .

Three: The Clinton Foundation investigation is so expansive, they have interviewed and re-interviewed many people. They described the evidence they have as ‘a lot of it’ and said there is an ‘avalanche coming in every day.’ WikiLeaks and the new emails.

They are “actively and aggressively pursuing this case.” Remember the Foundation case is about accusations of pay-for-play… They are taking the new information and some of them are going back to interview people for the third time. As opposed to what has been written about the Clinton Foundation investigation, it is expansive.

The classified e-mail investigation is being run by the National Security division of the FBI. They are currently combing through Anthony Weiner’s laptop. They are having some success — finding what they believe to be new emaisls, not duplicates, that have been transported through Hillary Clinton’s server.

Finally, we learned there is a confidence from these sources that her server had been hacked. And that it was a 99% accuracy that it had been hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, and that things had been taken from that…

There has been some angst about Attorney General Loretta Lynch — what she has done or not done. She obviously did not impanel, or go to a grand jury at the beginning. They also have a problem, these sources do, with what President Obama said today and back in October of 2015…

I pressed again and again on this very issue… The investigations will continue, there is a lot of evidence. And barring some obstruction in some way, they believe they will continue to likely an indictment.

• © 2015 RealClearPolitics.com. All Rights Reserved.

Comey’s Cajones

A bombshell blasted the Clinton camp late Friday, leaving Hillary fuming: FBI Director James Comey had sent a short letter* to members of Congress earlier in the day indicating the Bureau had unearthed some new evidence in the email scandal Clinton was under FBI investigation for that could be relevant to the Bureau’s earlier findings. The timing couldn’t be worse for Clinton, who seemed poised to handily win the presidential election a mere eleven days away.

Last Call: I’ll Have a Neat Independent Prosecutor, Please!

The Clintons have a long history of unethical and/or extralegal behavior which need not be recounted.  Instead let’s focus on the one scandal regarding Hillary’s unsecured private email server, as it most directly and immediately impacts her electability for the highest office in the land.

Last Call:
I’ll Have a Neat Independent Prosecutor, Please!

Many people understandably believe Hillary won’t be indicted because the Clintons have friends in high places. This alone should be deeply concerning to all Americans, because the message, loud and clear, is that laws are only meant for the “little people,” as Leona Helmsley once referred to us, or as “the folks,” as Barack Obama calls us.  The sense that there is so little confidence in honest fact-finding, sound prosecutorial judgment, and fair application of the nation’s laws makes a mockery of our judicial system and is assault on the notion that ours is a land of laws, not men.

To recap, it was reported last Thursday that Attorney General Loretta Lynch was in her plane at a private hangar at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport where, coincidentally, Bill Clinton also happened to be. Apparently, he exited his plane, walked across the tarmac, and entered her plane, where the two talked for about a half hour.  What was said, we don’t know, but Lynch reported it was all above board discussions about grandchildren, golf, and a former AG. Maybe. Let’s  review the facts most favorable to Lynch.  Any communication between Bill Clinton and Lynch, regardless of what was said, was improper if for no other reason than it created an appearance of impropriety, something that should be of great import to the nation’s top attorney.  It alone is reason for recusal.

It’s harder to view the facts most favorably to Bill Clinton, given his propensity to obfuscate and history of lying.  He’s a lawyer (albeit disbarred), who is or should be knowledgeable of what is considered ethical in the legal profession. This communication clearly was not. Furthermore, he is or should be aware of the DOJ rules governing ongoing investigations and the ethical standards the department must adhere to.

In fact, Bill knows firsthand.  It’s doubtful the professional rules  or code nor DOJ rules have changed radically since his impeachment in 1998 on two charges: perjury and obstruction of justice. This could be a case where the leopard doesn’t change his stripes, or a case where the boy never learns his lesson.

Maybe Bubba was just being friendly. But Lynch should’ve known better than to be alone with Bill Clinton.  After all, an investigation is underway regarding his wife’s maintenance of an offsite private insecure email server improperly holding [deleted] state secrets and where his wife may be facing indictment by the very government Lynch currently, and both Clintons formerly, served, and in which she seeks the honor of being elected president.

Let’s not forget that Hillary’s server was originally in her (and Bill’s) home in Chappaqua, which means that he could theoretically be called as a witness.  Let’s recall her domain was registered on the exact day her Senate confirmations began.  But maybe these are coincidences?

Nefarious motives aren’t difficult to imagine under these facts. Indeed, a retired Secret Service agent posited his view that it was part of a “soft intimidation” behavior used routinely by Bill Clinton in the White House.

Lynch, to her credit, disclosed the meeting.  She probably had to, since a reporter, ABC15 Arizona anchor Christopher Sign, learned about it.  He observed people stepping off Lynch’s plane before Clinton boarded for the private meeting.  Further, Sign reported FBI officials at the scene called out, “No photos! No pictures! No cellphones!”  Sign added he had no idea why they were in town.

Lynch has since tried to assuage any accusations that she’ll be unduly influenced from this meeting by saying she fully expects to follow the recommendations of her staff, but she doesn’t intend to recuse herself.  She added she wouldn’t do it again, laughing the ordeal off. If she parses words in a Clintonian fashion, however, “expects” could be a very operative word.  Apparently emboldened, the DOJ walked back her comment, adding she would remain “the ultimate decider.”

For his part, Bubba said he wouldn’t do it again, either.  This is the Clinton modus operandi:  do what you want and apologize later (if you get caught.)  Then act dumb or be forgetful and release any bad news on a weekend, preferably a holiday. “Aw shucks Bubba” and “Ole granny Hillary” are masters at that game.  The two are too cute by half and two-faced to boot.  America deserves better.

Whether Bill’s chat with Lynch gives rise to prohibited ex parte communication (given the possibility of his being a witness in the ongoing email investigation or even a possible defendant in the Clinton Foundation matter) takes a bigger legal mind than mine to fully grok, but minimally, there exists an appearance of impropriety, and possibly, obstruction of justice. Sound familiar?

Hillary has issued excuse after excuse for her insecure email practices, which even frustrated her longtime aide and confidante, Huma Abedin, according to her recent deposition on the matter. The excuses range from something akin to “everybody else did it.”  But as any parent has told their child, just because everyone else does something doesn’t mean you should.  In this case, it was Clinton’s responsibility, one which she swore to uphold, to keep the nation’s secrets safe.

In fact, Hillary’s server was known by a notorious hacker using the moniker “Guccifer,” who leaked emails of Clinton associate, Sydney Blumenthal, back in 2013.  (Wired provided an excellent survey of the problems with the Clinton email arrangement.)

Other excuses included wanting to use just one device for convenience, which was untrue.  Or wanting to keep personal matters like her daughter’s wedding private, which wasn’t prohibited–the problem was the server’s insecurity coupled with her not turning over or deleting official or classified emails.

A few dozen more emails have surfaced as late as June 27th.  Thanks to Freedom of Information litigation brought by Judicial Watch, we have Hillary’s email in 2009 to Abedin and another state department employee:

“I have just realized I have no idea how my papers are treated at State. Who managed both my personal and official files?…I think we need to get on this asap to be sure we know and design the system we want.”

In late 2010,  Abedin emailed Hillary:

“We should talk about putting you on State e-mail or releasing your e-mail address to the department so you are not going to spam.”

Apparently, just such a thing happened, resulting in Hillary missing a call with a foreign minister.

Hillary replied to Abedin by offering to get a “separate address or device but I don’t want any risk of the personal being accessible.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if the FBI investigation ultimately recommends to indict, which is a low threshold. It would only be a recommendation, though, and the Department of Justice (read: Lynch) could, in its prosecutorial discretion, which is considerable, decide not to move forward.

The FBI bureaucracy, with career agents whose reputations are at stake, may not be as enthusiastic about protecting Hillary as the White House or the Clintons themselves are.  Should the DOJ fail to follow FBI recommendation, they’ll look like political hacks covering up for the Obama administration.  Which is exactly why independent counsel should’ve been appointed as recommended by some lawmakers last year, where the request was denied by the White House. That would’ve been a wise course since it could dispel concern that political motives would be dispositive of outcome. Renewed efforts spearheaded by Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.), and others, should be heeded.

Recall back in November 2010, over a quarter of a million diplomatic cables between State and U.S. embassies were leaked to Wikileaks. Hillary condemned this as harmful to international diplomacy. So for at least that long, Hillary was aware of the potential risks associated with electronic communications.

Either classified or sensitive material is important or it’s not.  As Edward Snowden observed on Twitter:

“Break classification rules for the public’s benefit, and you could be exiled. Do it for personal benefit, and you could be President. — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) June 1, 2016”

Let’s please not have that happen. This is the last call for Americans of good faith in all parties to insist that the integrity of our judiciary not be undermined, and demand that independent counsel be appointed in this matter without delay.

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July 4, 2016