State-Sponsored Iranian Hackers Indicted for Computer Intrusions at U.S. Satellite Companies
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/state-sponsored-iranian-hackers-indicted-computer-intrusions-us-satellite-companies
Blue Bell Creameries Ordered To Pay $17.25 Million In Criminal Penalties In Connection With 2015 Listeria Contamination
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/blue-bell-creameries-ordered-pay-1725-million-criminal-penalties-connection-2015-listeria
Suspect Arrested in Slaying of 17-Year-Old Staffer of GOP Challenger of Ilhan Omar
On Monday two Lacy Johnson aides were shot standing outside a convenience store when one or more shooters opened fire. It was a drive-by shooting. The 17-year-old staffer later died at the hospital.
Republican Lacy Johnson is running against radical Democrat Ilhan Omar.
The 17-year-old outreach coordinator for Lacy’s campaign, Andre Conley, was killed Monday outside a gas station in north Minneapolis.
Young Andre Conley was the 59th homicide victim in the city this year.
Homicides have spiked in Minneapolis since the George Floyd leftist riots.
According to reports Andre Conley was the city’s 59th homicide victim this year and the ninth homicide victim under 18-years-old.
An eyewitness said Andre Conley was murdered when a green truck pulled up and started shooting. The two GOP staffers were hit in the shooting.
A witness rushed over to Andre to offer aid but a woman told him to not move the body.
Andre lay face down on the pavement while people milled around outside the convenience store.
Now this… A suspect was arrested on Thursday morning.
Russia Today reported:
A suspect was arrested on Thursday morning in connection with the murder of a teenage staffer for Lacy Johnson, the Republican challenger to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota). The shooting is not believed to be politically motivated.
The suspect was taken into custody after a high speed pursuit, according to the Minneapolis Police Department. Officers attempted to pull them over, but they fled, leading to the car chase which ended with the suspect crashing their vehicle.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/09/breaking-suspect-arrested-slaying-17-year-old-staffer-gop-challenger-ilhan-omar/
What Happened to the Criminal Case against Goldman Sachs at Barr’s Justice Department?
On December 6 of last year, four reporters at Bloomberg News signaled that the U.S. Department of Justice was close to a settlement of its criminal investigation of Goldman Sachs in the 1MDB matter. The reporters wrote as follows:
“The Justice Department and other federal agencies, in internal discussions held in recent weeks, have weighed seeking penalties between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, the people said. That’s less than what some analysts have signaled Goldman might have to pay. While a settlement could be announced as soon as next month, the terms could change before a deal is finalized…”
The terms, indeed, seem to have changed. It’s now more than 9 months since that article was published and there hasn’t been a peep out of the Justice Department about criminal charges against Goldman Sachs. According to the Bloomberg report, Barr has “directly immersed himself in the case.”
Both Barr and the Deputy Attorney General, Jeffrey Rosen, hail from Kirkland & Ellis, one of the primary law firms representing Goldman in the matter. Barr was “Of Counsel” to Kirkland while Rosen worked at the law firm for 29 years. (See Top Men at Justice Department with Final Say on Goldman Sachs Felony Charges Got Big Payouts from Kirkland & Ellis – Goldman’s Law Firm.)
1MDB is a sovereign wealth fund in Malaysia. Goldman raised over $6 billion in bond offerings for the fund. According to the Justice Department, $4.5 billion of that was “misappropriated” and used “to fund the co-conspirators’ lavish lifestyles, including purchases of artwork and jewelry, the acquisition of luxury real estate and luxury yachts, the payment of gambling expenses, and the hiring of musicians and celebrities to attend parties.” Bribes and kickbacks were also allegedly made. Goldman made more than $600 million in fees from the bond offerings.
In July, the Malaysian government settled the case against Goldman Sachs for $3.9 billion.
Another law firm representing Goldman Sachs is Sullivan & Cromwell. On June 19, Barr released a statement announcing that Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney (i.e. top federal prosecutor) for the Southern District of New York (where Goldman Sachs is headquartered), would be “stepping down.” Barr said President Trump would be naming Jay Clayton, the sitting chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to fill the slot. Clayton hails from Sullivan & Cromwell.
The problem was, Berman had not agreed to “step down”; he said so publicly, and was, in reality, being ousted by Barr in the midst of numerous key criminal cases being handled by his office…
https://riggedgame.blog/2020/09/17/what-happened-to-the-criminal-case-against-goldman-sachs-at-barrs-justice-department/
Barbados Walks Out Of Commonwealth & Removes Queen Elizabeth II As Sovereign
In a big announcement this week, the Caribbean nation of Barbados is planning to walk out of the Commonwealth and remove Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state. The Queen is the “constitutional monarch” of Barbados since her independence on 30 November 1966. As the sovereign, she is the personal embodiment of the Barbadian Crown.
Barbados walks out of Commonwealth
Barbados’ Governor-General, Sandra Mason, gave a speech on Tuesday at the state opening of Parliament, explaining that “the time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind.” Mason, reading from a speech written by Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Motteley, said that the plan is for the country to become a republic, and that it could happen as early as November 2021, which would coincide with the 55th anniversary of when Barbados gained independence in 1966, reported CNN.
“Barbadians want a Barbadian Head of State. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving,” Mason said. “Hence, Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a republic by the time we celebrate our 55th anniversary of independence.”
Monarchy of Barbados
The Queen is the “constitutional monarch” of Barbados since her independence on 30 November 1966, per the Royal Family’s official website. As the sovereign, she is the personal embodiment of the Barbadian Crown. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 15 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country’s monarchy is separate and legally distinct.
As a result, the current monarch is officially titled Queen of Barbados and, in this capacity, she, her husband, and other members of the Royal Family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of the Barbadian state.
However, the Queen is the only member of the Royal Family with any constitutional role. The Queen lives predominantly in the United Kingdom and, while several powers are the sovereign’s alone, most of the royal governmental and ceremonial duties in Barbados are carried out by the Queen’s representative, the governor-general.
https://greatgameindia.com/barbados-removes-queen/
ASSANGE HEARING DAY EIGHT— Espionage Act Put in the Dock
Espionage Act Put in the Dock
10:18 am EDT: In afternoon testimony, Carey Shenkman, a lawyer and expert on the history of the Espionage Act, laid out what defense attorney Mark Summers called the “incomprehensible and confusing” Espionage Act. Shenkman spoke the repressive political conditions in the United States when the Espionage Act was adopted, with President Woodrow Wilson’s administration suppressing strong opposition to U.S. entry into the First World War.
Many Americans back then still took to heart George Washington’s admonition in his farewell address not to become entangled in Europe affairs–and conflicts. “Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?,” Washington wrote.
Wilson, an admirer of the Klu Klux Klan, also admired putting people in prison for speech. He tried to get censorship into the Espionage Act but was defeated on that by just one vote in the Senate. In his signing statement on the Act, he said: ““Authority to exercise censorship over the press … is absolutely necessary to the public safety.”
Instead he got a Sedition Act passed that made it a crime to be disloyal to the flag among other symbols of the state. Numerous journalists were prosecuted, not for unauthorized possession and dissemination of defense information, but for urging readers to resist the draft.
Shenkman briefly took the court through various efforts by subsequent administrations to try to indict journalists for publishing classified material. Franklin Roosevelt tried to get the Chicago Tribune prosecuted for information it published about the Battle of Midway; Richard Nixon empaneled a grand jury in Boston to prosecute two New York Times reporters for publishing the Pentagon Papers; Nixon also went after Beacon Press f0r publishing the Senator Mike Gravel edition of the Papers.
Gravel was worried Nixon would prosecute him, for while he had immunity to disclose the classified Papers during a legislative act he was criminally liable for publishing them as a book. Nixon thought better of indicting a sitting senator, given the other problems he was having.
All these and other attempts failed to bring back an indictment because of the inherent conflict the Espionage Act has with the First Amendment–until Julian Assange. Shenkman showed how such attempts at prosecutions always involved the U.S. president and were inherently political–a key point for the defense.
On cross examination, prosecutor Clair Dobbin tried to undermine Shenkman’s impartiality, portraying him as a member of “Mr. Assange’s legal team” when he worked for the late Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitution Rights when Ratner was helping Assange with a UN panel that decided he was being arbitrarily detained in the Ecuador embassy.
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/09/17/assange-hearing-day-eight-espionage-act-put-in-the-dock/