FBI at a Snails Pace: Grants Immunity to Staffer Who Set Up Clinton Email Server

20160302_2020 Immunity Granted to staffer who set up Clinton email server (WP).jpg Justice Dept. grants immunity to staffer who set up Clinton email server
By Adam Goldman, WashingtonPost

(Mar. 2, 2016 20:20 pm) The Justice Department has granted immunity to a former State Department staffer, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server, as part of a criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information, according to a senior law enforcement official.

The official said the FBI had secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign before setting up the server in her New York home in 2009.

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Super Tuesday: Bernie Sanders Denies Clinton Colorado and Minnesota, Virtually Ties Massachusetts

20160302_0200 Super Tuesday Bernie Sanders Denies Clinton Colorado and Minnesota (NTY).jpg Super Tuesday: Bernie Sanders Denies Clinton Colorado and Minnesota, Virtually Ties Massachusetts

(Mar. 2, 2016 02:00 a.m ET) Sanders denies Clinton Colorado and Minnesota, two key states during Super Tuesday’s democratic race for the nomination.
Massachusetts was a virtual tie making the theoretical state win count six to five in favor of Clinton. The number of delegates won by Clinton was 453 to Sanders’ 284.

See charts.

Double Standard: Clinton Emails Released on Eve of Super Tuesday

Double Standard: Clinton Emails Released on Eve of Super Tuesday

The timing couldn’t be any more perfect. At the end of the day, and right before the primary elections Super Tuesday. What a scam. Soldiers serving in the military would have been subjected to an Article 15 for mishandling any government information, classified, secrete, confidential or top secret.

State Dept. releases final haul of Clinton emails
With the last batch, released on the eve of Super Tuesday, the number of classified emails rises past 2,100.

By Josh Gerstein and Rachael Bade, Politico.com

(Feb. 29, 2016 16:22 PM EST) — Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is escaping the State Department’s final release of her emails — on the eve of Super Tuesday — without any more of the messages from her private account being designated “Top Secret.”

However, the total number of messages deemed classified by the State Department surged past 2,100 in the last document dump, adding to Clinton’s headaches about her judgment in using a private server for all her email traffic while secretary.

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Bernie Sanders Lucky 27

20160229_1505 BernieSanders - We have a deadline at midnight tonight (ActBlue).jpg Bernie Sanders’ Lucky 27
by Daryl Parsons

(Feb. 29, 2016 14:45 ET) — Not sure if anyone has noticed, but the magic number “27” has made its way into Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign, and thus into American history. It started off as a statistical number read off during campaign rallies to illustrate how Sanders’ campaign took donations from regular working class people in America averaging a humble “$27 Bucks.” It is now a stable number during his campaign rallies.

The Luck 27 doesn’t only appear in crusty book-keeping accountings of donations. It has appeared in other ways as well. For instance, when Sanders mentions how long he and his wife have been married. The answer, 27-years. Any cosmic correlation going on here?

The symbolism peppered throughout the Sanders campaign pops up in other ways.

Another numerical coincidence was during the very first primary election in Iowa when Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton within 1% of her 49.9 to 49.6 victory. There, the magic number was 1%.

Historically, the 1% designation has been used to refer to how “99%” of the population in American have been subject to the economic and political system imbalance. That is, the majority of the wealth is focused in the top 1% of the population. This leaves the rest of the population, or 99%, having to fend for themselves while fighting over the scraps of society that are left to scrap over.

The 99%/1% symbolism made its debut during Sanders’ first campaign election results in Iowa where he lost within 1%. Quite symbolic given that Sanders’ issue based campaign has advocated against the economic and social inequality existing in America, or for 99% of the population.

His opponent Hillary Clinton, in contrast, won the Iowa election within the 1% range. That is, she benefits from only a %1 margin, the margin which the wealthy class of citizens in American exist over the rest of the population. Clinton has been viewed, and given how she has taken Wall Street money for her campaign, as an establishment candidate beholden to Wall Street money.

It will be interesting to see what other magic numbers appear for Sanders throughout the rest of his campaign.

For now, it looks like the Lucky 27 number will be sticking around for a while.

Already, ActBlue, the Sanders’ campaign online donation service provider, has included a special $27 button in the optional amounts to click-on when making a donation on the site. This makes it easier and fun for people to join the symbolic $27 donation revolution.

One thing is also certain. The ability of Sanders to summon his Lucky 27 donors has been unflinching.

Just this month for February 2016, Sanders campaign reported having received $36 Million in donations.

Contributing to this amount is the surge of donations Sanders received after his win in New Hampshire which crippled ActBlue’s website to a slow crawl. Nonetheless, the Sanders campaign reported receiving $5 Million within 24-hours after his New Hampshire win.

The Lucky 27 is also a routine ad-lib by Sanders supporters during rallies. During the campaign, Sanders would engage his supporters with the question, , “. . and do you know what the average donation was?” The supporters then in cadence sound-off with, “Twenty-seven dollars!”

Related Story

Bernie Sanders Collects $36 Million in February as Fund-Raising Successes Continue
by By Nicholas Confessore, The New York Times

(Feb. 29, 2016 10:11 AM ET) — Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont raised more than $36 million in February and was hoping to hit the $40 million mark by the end of the day on Monday, his campaign announced.

Read more.

Mutiny on the DNC! Vice Chair resigns, endorses Bernie Sanders

20160228_1007 Tulsi Gabbard resigns from DNC endorses Bernie Sanders (Reuters).jpg Tulsi Gabbard resigns from DNC, endorses Bernie Sanders
by by Alana Wise, Reuters

(Feb. 28, 2016 10:07 ET) Democratic National Committee vice-chair Tulsi Gabbard resigned from her post on Sunday to endorse Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.

“I think it’s most important for us, as we look at our choices as to who our next commander in chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander in chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment,” Gabbard, a U.S. representative for Hawaii, said on MSNBC show “Meet the Press”.

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The Art of the Lie: Hillary Clinton’s Artful Avoidance and Obfuscation (Draft 1)

This is a rough draft Ver. 1

(Feb. 23, 2016) — During tonight’s CNN Town Hall meeting between democratic nominee hopefuls Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, the moderator asked Clinton about why she hasn’t released her $200k paid speech transcripts made with Goldman Sachs, and whether the private email server classified information mishandling investigation has impacted her campaign.

Clinton’s response might as well have been from Donald Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal.” However, Clinton’s book would be named, “The Art of the Lie.”

If anyone who has been following the democratic candidates over the past year, one would be very familiar with the issues that arrise for each of the candidates along the way. The first time Clinton was asked about her paid speeches with Goldman Sachs, where she received over $600K for three speeches, was around when Lee Fang, a reporter with “The Intercept” began asking her about them, and was subsequently brushed off and laughed at.

Since, the request for the transcripts has been popping up without giving way. Clinton’s first response, which was during a broadcast debate with Sanders, she said she would, “look into it.” Now, and as artfully as she could, she is conditioning her release of those transcripts on actions of the other candidates. Namely, the republicans as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, has since, released what little transcripts he had. But this wasn’t enought for Clinton. She moved the goal post and is now requiring all the republican candidates to also release transcripts of any speeches they every made as well. This scored Clinton points in creative dodging (i.e., lying), and as such, is playing a page out of the book, “The Art of the Lie.”

Both her responses were misleading.

1) Transcripts – Basically, she has refused from the start to release claiming she will look into it. Now she has spouted how she wants everybody to release their transcripts 1st before she will follow.

2) Email – She tried to summarize this as another “attack” based issue.

1) Transcripts – My view – If she wants to be the leader of this country, and the leader of the Military (where soldiers have been sent to jail, subject to UCMJ actions for mishandling classified information.) why is she differing leadership to the other candidates to lead the releasing of transcripts for their paid speeches.

Its like, Clinton’s position is, “I won’t tell the truth (by releasing the transcripts) unless you tell the truth first.” Lastly, on this issue. First, the other candidates are not only asking, but the American people are asking her to release the transcripts. She doesn’t only have to come clean to the other candidates, but she has conditioned her coming clean on behalf of the interest of the American people on weather the other candidates will release their transcripts.

Does this sound familiar? Yes. It’s that tit for tat approach to dealing with a problem. This is what grid locks congress where Republicans and Democrats play this game back and forth in D.C. and nothing gets done. Thus, the same old tactics, gimmicks, and tricks. Meanwhile, while the game is afoot, the American people, as with the transcripts are marginalized because of how she wants to “play the game.” Because it is only a game for her. If she looses, she goes back to a cushy lifestyle.

2) Classified Email Breech:

Well, I sent an op-ed into the New York Times on this basically narrowing it down to how soldiers would face much more serious consequences for simply having a thumb drive used around official military equipment and computer in the course of communications. Here, she basically installed her own system, to intercept communications she needed to send, receive and store in the course of her work as a United States Secretary of State.

This is very serious. The idea that she setup this private system guarantees that she would be in control of distribution of its contents upon request. Therefore, she, once again, and with the intention of, developed a “buffer” between her and being accountable to the American people. As she is now doing above, with the speech transcripts as well.

She is enabling her ability to come clean with transcripts or email contents behind an action depending on a third party.

With respect to the Transcripts – she is hinging her actions on the Republican’s to first make a move (Bernie has already done it); and with respect to the emails, she hinged her ability to act on the limitations of the system she setup to begin with (third party device). The private server enabled her to “loose” thousands of emails, and then slowly seep out the information, in hard printout form (can’t be searched” on her terms. What is most disingenuous is how she designed this in advance, a premeditated act with the anticipation of being able to obstruct when needed.

Doesn’t the NSA Already have Clinton’s Email Communications?

You know, with all of the Edward Snowden revelations, and Glenn Greenwald’s reporting on the government surveillance systems, the hijacking of emails and voice transmissions, and the like, wouldn’t you think that the NSA, or the DHS, Google, Microsoft, as such would all have copies of Clinton’s private email server communications?

If then, then why haven’t they provided the investigation with same?

Or, why hasn’t the FBI gotten an order, like they did with Apple, to forensically pry any and all databases open to recover the information form all sources?

Who is the director of the FBI?

FBI Facts: (Wikipedia)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States, which simultaneously serves as the nation’s prime federal law enforcement organization. Operating under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI is concurrently a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence.[2] A leading U.S. counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes.[3]

FBI Director Appointments:

Current FBI Director:

James Brien Comey, Jr. (born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer. He is the seventh and current Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Appointed by Barack Obama (Friends with Hillary Clinton):

In May 2013, it was reported, and in June 2013 it was made official, that President Barack Obama would nominate Comey to be the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, replacing outgoing director Robert Mueller.

Standards for Appointments:

FBI Directors are appointed by the President of the United States. They must be confirmed by the United States Senate and serve a term of office of five years, with a maximum of ten years, if reappointed, unless they resign or are fired by the President before their term ends.

EmailGate: Hillary Clinton Aide set to Testify

20160223_1936 Aides email-server testimony could throw Clinton campaign (WP).jpgAides’ email-server testimony could throw Clinton campaign a curveball
By Spencer S. Hsu and Rosalind S. Helderman February 23 at 7:36 PM Washington Post

(Feb. 23, 2016) — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that top aides to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton should be questioned under oath about her use of a private email server as secretary of state, raising new political and legal complications for Clinton as she tries to maintain momentum for her campaign.

The ruling granted a request from the conservative group Judicial Watch, which sought testimony from State Department officials and members of Clinton’s inner circle to determine whether Clinton’s email arrangement thwarted federal open-records laws.

Read more.

Hillary, Bill and me and the shadow of Monica Lewinsky

20160221_0800 Hillary, Bill and me and the shadow of Monica Lewinsky (Guardian).jpg (Feb. 22, 2016 02:30 ET) It dawns upon many that today’s voting constituency may not even remember the time Hillary Clinton’s husband, Bill, president of the Untied States at the time, had an affair with then intern Monica Lewinsky right smack dab in the middle of the White House.

You won’t hear about that “fight” from Hillary on her campaign trail. Even more so when the discussion turns to family values. And this is one part of Hillary’s past she can’t revise. And in this category, she can’t touch Bernie Sanders.

Hillary, Bill and me: on growing up in the shadow of Monica Lewinsky
By Jean Hannah Edelstein

Young women do understand the significance of the former secretary of state’s candidacy – but it’s the demonization of a guileless intern that has one writer reflecting on the Democrat’s complacency when misogyny hit close to home

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What to Know: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205, 558 U.S. 310 (2010)

20100121_0000 CITIZENS UNITED v. FEDERAL ELECTION (US 08-2015) Opinion.jpg(Feb. 13, 2016 21:45 EST) Because the US Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, (2010), has been receiving so much attention throughout this presidential election cycle, here is a consolidated list of links which help those wishing to understand the case more than just its title.

Hillary Clinton has advocated, for unknown reasons, that the Citizens United case became to be because it involved an attack campaign against her.

Why she would want to take credit for something which drastically caused our campaign finance system to become corrupted, is unknown.

The gist of the case involves a movie produced by an anti-Hillary-Clinton entity. The movie was to cause people to not want to elect Hillary Clinton.

There were provisions in a law which required various disclosures when campaign related speech was being paid for and used against a political candidate. That, is what Hillary Clinton was at the time.

The producers of the movie then filed an action in court seeking an injunction to keep the law requiring disclosure from being applied to them.

Accordingly the case, originally launched in 2008, eventually cycled its way through the courts system all the way to the Supreme Court. When in 2010, the court, in a 5-4 split decision, ruled in Citizens United’s favor.

Below are some interesting links for reference.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205, 558 U.S. 310 (2010)

Wikipedia Overview

Opinion of the Court.

Taking Back Our Democracy: Responding to Citizens United and the Rise of Super PACs, ACLU, Washington, DC, (July 24, 2012)

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA, McCain–Feingold Act, Mar. 27, 2002)

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA, McCain–Feingold Act, Pub.L. 107–155, 116 Stat. 81, enacted March 27, 2002, H.R. 2356) is a United States federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which regulates the financing of political campaigns. Its chief sponsors were Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John McCain (R-AZ). The law became effective on 6 November 2002, and the new legal limits became effective on January 1, 2003.[1]

John Lewis Back Pedals on Sanders Rebuke

20160213_1515 Civil Rights Leader Lewis Softening Dismissal of Sanders (AP).jpgCivil Rights Leader Lewis Softening Dismissal of Sanders
By Meg Kinnard, AP Greenville, S.C. (Feb. 13, 2016, 3:15 PM ET)

Civil rights leader John Lewis on Saturday softened his dismissal of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ work in the 1960s on behalf of racial equality.

Lewis, a Georgia congresswoman who has endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race, had said about Sanders’ role in the movement: “I never saw him. I never met him.”

Two days later, he felt compelled to clarify his remarks “in the interest of unity.”

“The fact that I did not meet him in the movement does not mean I doubted that Sen. Sanders participated,” Lewis said, and “neither was I attempting to disparage his activism.”

Read more.

20160213_1222 John Lewis clarifies comments on Bernie Sanders (MSNBC).jpg John Lewis clarifies comments on Bernie Sanders
By Alex Seitz-Wald (Feb. 13, 2016 12:22 PM)

Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis on Saturday clarified comments he made earlier this week questioning Sen. Bernie Sanders’ involvement in the civil rights movement. Lewis, who is supporting Hillary Clinton over Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, had said he never met Sanders.

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