Ex-Biden Iran envoy suspended for ‘mishandling classified docs’ lands Princeton teaching gig

A senior diplomat who led the Biden administration’s negotiations with Iran before having his security clearance suspended and being placed on unpaid leave has landed an Ivy League teaching job.

Robert Malley, who served as the State Department’s special envoy for Iran from January 2021 until he was placed on leave at the end of June, is joining Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) as a visiting professor and lecturer.

“While I am on leave from the State Department, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with the next generation of public servants,” Malley said in a statement released by the university on Tuesday.

“I look forward to my time at Princeton and returning to government service in due course.”

Malley had been a top negotiator of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, which provided Tehran with sanctions relief in exchange for temporary restrictions on its nuclear program.

President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2018, but the Biden White House has sought to resurrect a version of the deal.

Rob Malley’s significant diplomatic experience and interactions with multiple presidential administrations will be of enormous value to our students,” SPIA Dean Amaney Jamal said. “I am very happy to welcome him to the School and look forward to his contributions.”

The hiring of Malley was panned as “pitiful” by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a Princeton alum.

“Rob Malley was such a pro-Iran radical that he was FIRED from Biden admin & had his security clearance stripped for ‘mishandling classified docs’ (the details are still hidden),” Cruz tweeted.

Congressional Republicans have demanded additional information about why Malley was placed on leave.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/16/bidens-suspended-iran-envoy-lands-gig-at-princeton/

Twitter Gave Special Counsel Trump’s Deleted Messages, Location Data: Documents

Twitter has handed over a voluminous set of data from former President Donald Trump’s account to special counsel Jack Smith, newly unsealed documents show.

Twitter, now known as X, gave Mr. Smith’s team data including deleted direct messages, other direct messages, draft posts, and information on the locations of users who posted to the account, lawyers for the company said in a Feb. 9 closed-door court hearing, a transcript of which was just made public.

The data included what Twitter described as “confidential communications,” or messages between President Trump and his senior advisers.

Twitter challenged a warrant issued by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell for the data but the judge shot the challenge down, ruling that Mr. Smith had provided sufficient evidence for the warrant and a linked non-disclosure order.

Twitter said the latter infringed on its constitutional rights and sought clearance to alert President Trump to the warrant’s existence so he could file opposition based on claims of executive privilege, but Judge Howell, appointed under President Barack Obama, upheld both orders and sanctioned X for failure to provide the data in a timely manner.

Twitter appealed the ruling to an appeals court but the court backed Judge Howell, finding that prosecutors had an “unquestionably compelling” interest in pursuing their investigation of Mr. Trump and keeping it secret from him and also because the order was “narrowly tailored,” such as by limiting its duration to 180 days.

The newly released transcript was part of a tranche of unsealed documents that also includes the warrant.

Mr. Smith’s team was authorized by the warrant to obtain an extensive amount of data from Twitter, including all records from October 2020 to January 2021 of composed posts, whether they remained in draft form or not; all direct messages that were sent, received, or drafted; all devices used to access the account; and any credit card or bank account information linked to the account.

Ari Holtzblatt, an attorney representing Twitter, told the judge during the February hearing that there was no bank or credit card information associated with the account.

“Really? Then how did somebody pay for the account at all?” Judge Howell asked. “You don’t have to provide that information to use a Twitter account?”

“That’s correct, your honor,” Mr. Holtzblatt said. “The Twitter service is free.”

Twitter was also ordered to hand over lists of users President Trump followed and blocked, users who liked or shared the president’s posts, and all searches he performed from October 2020 to January 2021.

https://www.ntd.com/twitter-gave-special-counsel-trumps-deleted-messages-location-data-documents_936750.html

2015

How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti ­and Built Six Homes

Even as the group has publicly celebrated its work, insider accounts detail a string of failures

The neighborhood of Campeche sprawls up a steep hillside in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. Goats rustle in trash that goes forever uncollected. Children kick a deflated volleyball in a dusty lot below a wall with a hand-painted logo of the American Red Cross.

In late 2011, the Red Cross launched a multimillion-dollar project to transform the desperately poor area, which was hit hard by the earthquake that struck Haiti the year before. The main focus of the project — called LAMIKA, an acronym in Creole for “A Better Life in My Neighborhood” — was building hundreds of permanent homes.

Today, not one home has been built in Campeche. Many residents live in shacks made of rusty sheet metal, without access to drinkable water, electricity or basic sanitation. When it rains, their homes flood and residents bail out mud and water.

The Red Cross received an outpouring of donations after the quake, nearly half a billion dollars.

The group has publicly celebrated its work. But in fact, the Red Cross has repeatedly failed on the ground in Haiti. Confidential memos, emails from worried top officers, and accounts of a dozen frustrated and disappointed insiders show the charity has broken promises, squandered donations, and made dubious claims of success.

The Red Cross says it has provided homes to more than 130,000 people. But the actual number of permanent homes the group has built in all of Haiti: six.

After the earthquake, Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern unveiled ambitious plans to “develop brand-new communities.” None has ever been built.

Aid organizations from around the world have struggled after the earthquake in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. But ProPublica and NPR’s investigation shows that many of the Red Cross’s failings in Haiti are of its own making. They are also part of a larger pattern in which the organization has botched delivery of aid after disasters such as Superstorm Sandy. Despite its difficulties, the Red Cross remains the charityof choice for ordinary Americans and corporations alike after natural disasters.

One issue that has hindered the Red Cross’ work in Haiti is an overreliance on foreigners who could not speak French or Creole, current and former employees say.

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-red-cross-raised-half-a-billion-dollars-for-haiti-and-built-6-homes

West makes money on Ukrainian conflict, does not need peace — Medvedev

Against the backdrop of losses, the West periodically resumes "speculations that it is necessary to return to the negotiating table to find some compromises," the Russian Security Council deputy chairman added

KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, August 16. /TASS/. The West is not interested in negotiations on a peace settlement in Ukraine, because it is keen to make as much money as possible for its military-industrial complex, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev told the media.

"Their speculations to the effect time is ripe to come to the negotiating table and start peace talks merely show how sly they are. They don't want this at all. They want to keep the military flywheel going in order to make money for their budgets," Medvedev said during a visit to the Army-2023 forum.

He recalled that Russian soldiers were "very successful" in burning Western-supplied equipment and would continue to do so. Against the backdrop of losses, the West periodically resumes "speculations that it is necessary to return to the negotiating table to find some compromises," Medvedev said.

"But we need to bear in mind that this is only part of the story, while the other part is the US military-industrial complex, and the European one as well, are making money on this. And this is a way for them to make mammoth profits by supplying their equipment to Ukraine. They are making money on this war," Medvedev explained.

During his visit to the exhibition of weapons seized by Russian forces during the special operation he took a look at many Western-made grenade launchers, anti-tank systems and small arms. He was also shown a US-made M777 artillery system, Hummer armored vehicles and Western communication equipment.

At the open exposition where captured armored vehicles are on display Medvedev was shown Ukrainian T-64BV and T-72AG tanks, a Swedish CV90-40 combat vehicle, as well as a Triton armored vehicle and a US M113 APC upgraded in the Netherlands. At the same exposition, Medvedev saw a burned Australian Bushmaster armored vehicle, a French AMX-10RCR wheeled tank, as well as British combat vehicles Husky, Mastiff and AT105 Saxon.

https://tass.com/defense/1661299

Hawaii's governor accuses investors of trying to 'steal land' from people who had their homes destroyed by Maui wildfires

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green is accusing real estate investors of trying to "steal land" from people who had their homes destroyed by the Maui wildfires.

In a press release on Monday, the governor's office said one of its top concerns right now is that Maui residents "are being approached about selling fire-damaged home sites, by people posing as real estate agents who may have ill intent."

"I've reached out to the Attorney General to explore options to do a moratorium on any sales of properties that have been damaged or destroyed," Governor Green said in a news conference Monday. "Moreover, I would caution people that it's going to be a very long time, before any growth, or housing can be built. And so, you would be pretty poorly informed if you try to steal land from our people and then build here."

The governor's office did not respond to Insider's request for information on the status of his suggested moratorium.

Some Maui residents are accusing land development companies and real estate agents of cold-calling them with offers to buy their properties after the wildfire.

Tiare Lawrence spoke to MSNBC and has been vocal on her own Instagram page.

"Maui is not for sale," Lawrence told MSNBC. "It is important that the multigenerational families that come from Lahaina get to continue to live in our hometown."

Maui resident Tammy Kaililaau, who lost her home of 20 years in the wildfires, told USA Today she got a Facebook message from someone in real estate after the fires.

Another local, Mark Stefl, said developers had approached him as well.

Some people are posting the company names and contact information of the realtors who are calling them.

But one local Maui realtor accused on Twitter of being involved told Insider that he hasn't "contacted any single person regarding real estate in Maui for weeks and months."

"I am not involved in this whatsoever," Ben Harper said. "I am not involved in this whatsoever. I think this is a witch hunt targeted at realtors such as myself who are considered 'non-local.' "

He said that he has friends and family who have been impacted by the fires, adding "Prayers to all of West Maui."

The wildfires that devastated Maui last week — particularly the historic community of Lahaina — have killed at least 99 people, with only 25% of the burn area searched so far, according to CNN.

The County of Maui estimates that the cost to rebuild much of the island will total $5.52 billion.

https://www.insider.com/hawaii-governor-accuses-developers-investors-steal-land-maui-wildfire-2023-8

Former Trump adviser blames Jews for dying in Auschwitz

Michael Flynn, a Christian nationalist who previously served as US national security advisor under Donald Trump, said that Jews were willingly given to the Nazis and said there were no guards.

"Early on, they really didn't know, they thought they were being taken out of war zones to be taken care of, and then it didn't take long before the word got out because people started to escape," the former US national security advisor said. "They started to realize, 'Hey, they're actually taking you there, and they're doing some really sick things.'"

Flynn then said he asked "a very, very astute historian" who was walking with him about the rules for the guards, "because there weren't any guards, but there were thousands of people… that just said 'Okay, here's my child,' and got on the train. Talk about being in the valley of the shadow of death."

The former general's remarks were just some of a longer speech that included other controversial statements, such as talking about how the Bible would be rewritten by artificial intelligence. However, his words about the Holocaust sparked backlash from the Auschwitz Memorial Museum in Poland, which described the flaws behind Flynn's accounts.

"The assertion that Jews could have easily resisted during deportations to extermination simply due to their numerical strength compared to the guards oversimplifies the dire circumstances they faced during the Holocaust," the memorial said, noting that while there were acts of resistance in Nazi-ruled areas, there were a number of factors at play, such as German deception and propagandas and, once at the heavily fortified camps themselves, "the sheer number of SS guards made resistance nearly impossible."

"The skepticism surrounding the stories of death camps is understandable, considering the unprecedented nature of the Holocaust. We can't expect people at that time to fully grasp the extent of the horrors they faced, especially given the manipulative tactics of the Nazis," the memorial said, adding: "Blaming the victims for not resisting more distorts history as it ignores the bigger picture and contexts of the complex and challenging situation they were in and the oppression they faced. Rejecting these kinds of narration is vital because it unfairly shifts the blame from the perpetrators to the people who suffered."

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-755011

Former White House Lawyer Warns Trump Should Not Hold Election Fraud Press Conference

A Trump-era White House lawyer warned on Tuesday night that former President Donald Trump should not hold a press conference on Monday detailing what he claims are examples of election fraud because it could land him in hot water.

Ty Cobb made the remarks after Trump was hit with 13 criminal charges in an indictment out of Fulton County, Georgia, over his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“A Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia is almost complete & will be presented by me at a major News Conference at 11:00 A.M. on Monday of next week in Bedminster, New Jersey,” Trump wrote in a statement posted on social media. “Based on the results of this CONCLUSIVE Report, all charges should be dropped against me & others – There will be a complete EXONERATION!”

“They never went after those that Rigged the Election,” he continued. “They only went after those that fought to find the RIGGERS!”

Cobb told CNN that he thought Trump’s remarks were “all Trump PR” and cautioned the former president from going through with the plan.

“This is, you know, generating chaos. I mean, frankly, there’s a good chance that whatever document he produces ends up as evidence against him,” Cobb said. “It could even end up as the basis for an obstruction count against the author because it’s likely to be fiction and solely for the purpose of contaminating the jury pool.”

Trump was charged with 3 counts of Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, 2 counts of Conspiracy to Commit Forgery in the First Degree, 2 counts of Conspiracy to Commit False Statements and Writings, 2 counts of False Statements and Writings, Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, Conspiracy to Commit Impersonating a Public Officer, Conspiracy to Commit Filing False Documents, and Filing False Documents.

The 18 others charged in Fulton County include: Rudy Giuliani, lawyer; Ray Smith III, lawyer; Cathy Latham, alleged fake elector; Robert Cheeley, lawyer; John Eastman, lawyer; David Shafer, alleged fake elector; Shawn Still, alleged fake elector; Sidney Powell, lawyer; Kenneth Chesebro, lawyer; Michael Roman, Trump campaign staffer; Misty Hampton, Coffee County elections supervisor; Scott Hall, Bail Bondsman; Stephen Lee, Pastor; Trevian Kutti, Publicist; Willie Lewis Floyd III, former leader of “Black Voices for Trump”; Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff; Jeffrey Clark, former DOJ official; and Jenna Ellis, lawyer.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2023/08/former-white-house-lawyer-warns-trump.html

Biden Allowed Major Donor to Hand Advanced Military Tech to China

He refused to meet with national security officials warning against the deal.

“When I was in another State they would slip and say ‘now I want to introduce the Senator from DuPont–I mean Delaware’”, Joe Biden had joked at a Senate Subcommittee on Crime session.

There’s a certain truth to the joke. DuPont is the corporation that defines Biden’s career. His first Senate bid was staffed with DuPont employees, including future chief-of-staff and senator Ted Kaufman, who was conveniently allowed to take a “leave of absence” from DuPont to help elect Biden. Biden celebrated his victory at the Hotel DuPont and bought a former DuPont mansion.

DuPont figures in a lot of Biden’s stories. He even claims to have gotten on board with gay marriage when his father showed him a gay couple kissing at DuPont. And Biden figures in the latest DuPont story which involves handing over advanced military technology to China.

Last year, DuPont sold off its biomaterials unit to the Huafon Group of China. Huafon, a massive chemical and finance organization,

Biden’s own defense secretary warned that the sale would put technology that could be used for advanced explosives in China’s hands. Those concerns were not unreasonable. DuPont had been born as a gunpowder firm that came to dominate the American defense industry in the 19th century. DuPont was there handling plutonium on the ground floor of the Manhattan Project even though its former president, Irénée du Pont, had admired Hitler. DuPont has since tried to avoid associations with weapons, but its biomaterials had potential military applications.

Houfan, a massive Chinese chemical and finance organization, which dominates the spandex market (spandex was originally developed by DuPont), boasts in its own spandex division that its commitment to “social responsibility” derives from Communist leadership within the company.

The deputy secretary of the Communist Party branch within Houfan was quoted as emphasizing the role of “Communist Party members and youth league members”.

America has been falling behind Communist China in the explosives race. The Ukraine war had demonstrated all too clearly the limitations of our military production capabilities and our reliance on outdated technologies. In 2021, a factory in Louisiana responsible for making all the Pentagon’s black powder blew up. The factory was originally part of DuPont.

China dominates mass production of CL-20, the deadliest non-nuclear explosive, and America has struggled to catch up. A report during the Trump administration had warned that, “China is also the sole source or a primary supplier for a number of critical energetic materials used in munitions and missiles.” Austin and the Pentagon warned about the deadly consequences of handing over DuPont’s technology which, like CL-20, was developed in America, but would be appropriated by China leading to a grave risk of American deaths in possible future conflicts.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has generally been a loyal political soldier. He had previously toed the line on nearly every Biden initiative. But on DuPont, he broke ranks. National security officials tried to meet with Biden to warn him that the DuPont deal might be good for the Delaware company, but was bad for America. Biden however refused to meet with them.

And the deal went through. Despite the supposed safeguards which were supposed to prevent Covation Biomaterials, the name of the new Chinese-controlled company, from getting its hands on the production process, it happened anyway. And the FBI launched an investigation.

Nothing is expected to come of that.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/biden-allowed-major-donor-to-hand-advanced-military-tech-to-china/

Never forget: The people who became billionaires from covid

https://youtu.be/X7DQ_RBgXLU