Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 1:58 a.m. No.16337690   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7697 >>8204 >>8433

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/05/22/canada-storm-derecho-ontario-quebec/

Deadly thunderstorm complex cuts power to nearly a million in Canada

At least 10 people died as a probable “derecho” swept through Ontario and Quebec

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 2:04 a.m. No.16337697   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8204 >>8433

>>16337690

>cuts power to nearly a million in Canada

 

This storm was almost about 1,000 kilometres from Michigan to Maine as it went across Ontario and Quebec. That’s what a derecho is, it’s a long line of very active thunderstorms or microburst kind of situations. Nothing can deter it. It just marches along.

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 2:47 a.m. No.16337760   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61488556.amp

Michael Sussmann: Clinton lawyer 'lied to manipulate FBI over Trump'

A lawyer for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign lied to the FBI to "manipulate" the agency in order to win the election, a court has heard.

Arguments in the trial of Michael Sussmann have begun with prosecutors saying he hoped to create an "October surprise" in the race's final weeks.

Mr Sussmann has pleaded not guilty.

He is the first defendant to go on trial in an investigation into the FBI's original probe to find if Donald Trump was conspiring with Russia.

The charges arise from a meeting between Mr Sussmann, a cyber-security lawyer, and an FBI agent in 2016.

Mr Sussmann presented what he claimed was evidence of suspicious internet traffic connecting the Trump Organization to Russia's Alfa Bank. The FBI looked into the allegation and found nothing suspicious.

Prosecutors say Mr Sussmann lied by not disclosing in the meeting that he was working for the Democrat's campaign. The indictment charges that he claimed not to be representing any particular client and that he presented himself purely as a concerned citizen.

A lawyer for Mr Sussmann denounced the trial as an "injustice" at Tuesday's hearing in a Washington DC federal courthouse.

Mr Sussmann is being charged by US Department of Justice Special Counsel John Durham, who was picked by the attorney general under President Trump in 2019 to investigate FBI misconduct in the original Trump-Russia investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The Mueller inquiry concluded in 2019 that it could find no evidence of any criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, though it did determine Russia had sought to help Mr Trump win.

President Trump always said the Mueller inquiry was biased against him.

In court on Tuesday, prosecutor Brittain Shaw argued that Mr Sussmann had hoped to drop a bombshell in the final days of the November 2016 race.

"This case was about privilege," Ms Shaw said, describing the defendant as a "high-powered DC lawyer".

Lawyers for Mr Sussmann called the government's argument "nonsensical", arguing that the FBI would have known he had represented the Democratic National Committee earlier that year after their computer servers were hacked.

Also on Tuesday, prosecutors revealed what led the FBI to conclude that the evidence provided by Mr Sussmann did not prove any Russian collusion.

The server at the Trump Organization uncovered by Mr Sussmann "was merely a spam email server used for sending out marketing emails", Ms Shaw told the jury.

"The server did not reflect a crime, nor was it a threat to national security," she added.

Two other people have been charged with crimes as part of Mr Durham's probe. One pleaded guilty in 2020 to altering evidence that was used to secure an FBI wiretap on Trump aide Carter Page.

In the other case, a Russia analyst has been charged with lying to the FBI about his sources.

Though there is no evidence that Mrs Clinton herself directed the alleged Sussmann smear, political opponents have poured scorn on her remarks this month warning about the dangers of disinformation and conspiracy theories.

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 2:48 a.m. No.16337765   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://nypost.com/2022/05/20/clinton-lawyer-shopped-phony-trump-russia-data-to-cia-in-17-witnesses/

‘Frustrated’ Clinton lawyer shopped phony Trump-Russia data to CIA in ’17: witnesses

WASHINGTON, DC — Former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann denied he was “representing a client” when he gave the CIA faulty data linking Donald Trump to Russia — and appeared “frustrated” that officials weren’t taking the information seriously, two former agency employees testified Friday.

One ex-spy — identified in court only as “Kevin P.” — recalled that he and a colleague met with Sussmann at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., in February 2017, shortly after Trump took office.

Sussmann gave the men two thumb drives that he said came from unidentified “contacts” and showed a secret, cyber back channel between a Trump Organization server and Russia’s Alfa Bank, Kevin P. said

“He said he was not representing a client,” the witness testified, adding that Sussmann also said he’d previously given “similar but unrelated” information to the FBI.

Sussmann, 57, is on trial in Washington, DC, federal court for allegedly denying that he was acting on behalf of a client when he gave two thumb drives and three “white papers” on the purported Trump-Russia ties to then-FBI general counsel James Baker on Sept. 19, 2016.

Sussmann is charged with a single count of lying to the government, with special counsel John Durham alleging that he was actually working for the Clinton campaign and another client, tech executive Rodney Joffe, who told Sussmann about the data.

Following the meeting at CIA headquarters, Kevin P.’s colleague — identified as “Steve M.” — drafted a memo summarizing what took place and noting that Sussmann had been there on behalf of a client, according to evidence shown to jurors.

But Kevin P. edited the memo to take out the word “client” and replaced it with “contacts,” another exhibit showed.

Sussmann’s meeting in Langley appeared to be the result of an earlier sit-down with retired CIA official Mark Chadason, a former station chief in both Europe and North Africa, who testified that he met with a Sussmann at a hotel in northern Virginia on Jan. 31, 2017, at the request of a mutual friend.

Sussmann told Chadason that he wanted to give the CIA information about a national security issue and had previously reached out to the agency’s general counsel in an attempt to do so, Chadason said.

Sussmann said he got the information from a Republican client but added that he wasn’t “sure if he would reveal himself to the CIA,” the former spook said.

Sussmann also said he planned to go to the New York Times if the CIA didn’t pursue the matter, Chadason recalled.

Under cross-examination, Chadason said he didn’t view Sussmann’s remark as a threat but an act of desperation.

“I understood it as a frustration,” he recalled. “He [Sussmann] seemed frustrated throughout the meeting.”

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 2:49 a.m. No.16337768   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/20/politics/hillary-clinton-robby-mook-fbi/index.html

Hillary Clinton personally approved plan to share Trump-Russia allegation with the press in 2016, campaign manager says

Hillary Clinton personally approved her campaign's plans in fall 2016 to share information with a reporter about an uncorroborated alleged server backchannel between Donald Trump and a top Russian bank, her former campaign manager testified Friday in federal court.

Robby Mook said he attended a meeting with other senior campaign officials where they learned about strange cyberactivity that suggested a relationship between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which is based in Moscow. The group decided to share the information with a reporter, and Mook subsequently ran that decision by Clinton herself.

"We discussed it with Hillary," Mook said, later adding that "she agreed with the decision."

A campaign staffer later passed the information to a reporter from Slate magazine, which the campaign hoped the reporter would "vet it out, and write what they believe is true," Mook said.

Slate published a story on October 31, 2016, raising questions about the odd Trump-Alfa cyber links. After that story came out, Clinton tweeted about it, and posted a news release that said, "This secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of Trump's ties to Russia."

The testimony came in the criminal trial of Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who is being prosecuted by the Trump-era special counsel John Durham. Durham is investigating potential misconduct tied to the FBI's Trump-Russia probe. The trial has shed light on the dark arts of political opposition research – and how campaigns dig up dirt and plant stories in the press.

Federal investigators ultimately concluded there weren't any improper Trump-Alfa cyber links.

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 4:17 a.m. No.16337987   🗄️.is 🔗kun

The European Commission withheld 100 million euros from funds owed to Poland as a fine for non-execution of a court decision to terminate the activities of the disciplinary chamber for judge.

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 4:50 a.m. No.16338052   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8056

https://breaking911.com/developping-several-students-hospitalized-after-reports-of-mass-shooting-at-texas-elementary-school/

18 Kids, 1 Adult Killed In Mass Shooting at Texas Elementary School

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 4:59 a.m. No.16338077   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8085 >>8092 >>8204 >>8433

https://twitter.com/justin_hart/status/1529134508607361024

Alibaba Group Pres. J. Michael Evans at the WEF in Davos planning to track your carbon footprint: "Where are they traveling? How are they traveling? What are they eating? What are they consuming? Individual carbon footprint tracker… stay tuned!”

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 5 a.m. No.16338080   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8084 >>8116 >>8130

https://twitter.com/DavMicRot/status/1527243620260134912

I insulted @elonmusk yesterday on @Twitter, so for the next 24-48 hours there will be 100's of replies drowning out whatever I say w/ something witty like "shut-up Jew". Fulfilling Elon's vision of "free speech" utopia where anyone who speaks truth to power is drowned out w/ hate

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 5:02 a.m. No.16338090   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://twitter.com/DavMicRot/status/1529306689396170752

"Prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels or in a specified manner" Any parent can sue on behalf of students in any grade if they think discussion was inappropriate: topic can be the existence or acceptance of LGBTQ.

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 5:03 a.m. No.16338093   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1529264965168898048

May God bless the memory of the victims, and in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.

Anonymous ID: 483995 May 25, 2022, 5:09 a.m. No.16338121   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Holmes’ highly publicized defense strategy was to point the finger at Balwani as being abusive and controlling, as well as to cut into the extremely wealthy investors, such as Rupert Murdoch, Walmart’s Walton family and Betsy DeVos, who were allegedly duped by Theranos’ claims. Predictably, Balwani’s strategy has been to point the finger right back at Holmes as the true visionary of Theranos. For his part, Balwani also faces a steep, uphill climb, as his own text message to Holmes was introduced very early in the government’s case in which he claimed responsibility “for everything at Theranos.”

Although it is theoretically possible that both Holmes and Balwani went to trial motivated only by their divergent beliefs in their own innocence, as shrewd businesspersons, they probably calculated the costs and benefits of a trial and decided it was worth the bet to roll the dice. To be sure, the costs are enormous. Holmes’ trial team was led by Williams & Connolly partner Kevin Downey. If you multiply a conservative billable rate for a Los Angeles W&C partner of $750 per hour by a laughably conservative estimate of 12 hours per day, the 79 days spent in trial alone cost Holmes over $700,000. Additionally, by going to trial, Holmes lost the only mitigators available to her under the federal Sentencing Guidelines for timely acceptance of responsibility. (Though, given the draconian enhancements applicable to financial crimes causing millions of dollars of investor loss, those mitigators were probably relatively insignificant in Holmes’ case.)

Perhaps most importantly, although she may remain “free” longer than she otherwise would have had she pleaded guilty, the agonizing stress of withstanding a federal criminal prosecution undoubtedly robbed her of any peace since she was charged in June 2018, to say nothing of the three years prior that she was under federal investigation.

So what did Elizabeth Holmes gain by putting the government to its proof? Well, for starters, she was able to present a counternarrative to the government’s case — not only to the 12 jurors who decided her guilt or innocence, but also to the presiding judge who will now decide her sentence. I do think there is a compelling counternarrative here. Holmes was 19 years old when she started Theranos, around the same time that she became romantically involved with Balwani, who was 19 years her senior. She idolized Steve Jobs but apparently had no real mentors. Her parents were reportedly generationally wealthy but not necessarily successful in their own vocations. Sure, several highly successful older men invested and lost millions in Theranos, but that story always cuts both ways. When Holmes stands to receive her sentence, Theranos will have been closed for four years. During that time, Holmes became a mother for the first time and appears to be in a more stable romantic relationship. Being able to place her offense conduct in the appropriate context is sometimes advantageous for a white-collar defendant whose misconduct did not take place on a discrete date and time, but rather can and should be viewed in the context of a larger body of hopefully good deeds.

Holmes also preserved her valuable right to appeal any mistakes the government may have made in prosecuting her case. Because so few white-collar cases ever go to trial, there is no blueprint for trying such a case to a jury, and federal courts of appeal and even the U.S. Supreme Court have recently shown a willingness to reverse fraud convictions. In particular, the 9th Circuit, where Holmes’ case was tried, recently held that the government’s longstanding practice of using high executive salaries, i.e., lifestyle maintenance, as the motive for a fraud conspiracy is no longer legally viable. United States v. Yates, 16 F.4th 256 (9th Cir. 2021) (reversing all convictions).

Perhaps for the first time in her life, Holmes appears to be playing the long game. Time will tell whether her gamble pays off in any measurable way. It will be interesting to learn about the sentence the government is requesting for Holmes and whether, and by how much, the judge ultimately sentences her below the government’s recommendation. Of course, it also remains to be seen whether Balwani is convicted and, if so, whether his sentence is comparable to Holmes’. These and other questions will have to be answered after I get around to watching “The Dropout” on Hulu.•