Posts Tagged ‘Da Magnificent Seven’

I Did Some Reporting on the Big Stuff (UPDATE)

Posted: October 5, 2019 by julietteochieng in Uncategorized
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Voice Dropping Knowledge in the Wilderness

by baldilocks

As we know, when a so-called whistle-blower initiated the uproar about President Trump’s telephone conversation with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky it seemed to be a signal to Democrats that it was time to begin the impeachment process that most of them have longed for since Election Day in 2016.

President Trump declassified and released the transcript of the conversation, which refuted characterizations or “parodies” of it from major Democratic Party players like Rep. Adam Schiff. Nonetheless, the hue and cry of “Impeach the MotherFather” – to paraphrase Rep. Rashida Tlaib – was heard throughout the land. Why? Because surely it is illegal for a sitting POTUS to ask a foreign head of state to investigate to see if a crime has been committed in the latter’s country. Right?

The outrage got even more shrill when it was presumed that president Trump asked the same thing of Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison to help investigate the origins of the Russia hoax. (The presumption was in error. It turns out that the Australians reached out to us first on the matter.)

A day or so after this whirlwind started, one of my friends shared a link which pointed to the fact that the United States has a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with Ukraine and, a few seconds later, I discovered that we also have one with Australia – naturally, since Australia is part of the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance — and with many other countries.

Of course, I shared this information with my 6000+ followers on Twitter and my 3000+ followers on Facebook. It took a while for other Trump supporters with larger followings to pick up on it, but some did.

I even shared the information with Hillary Clinton, for what it’s worth.

It’s fun to troll and to be telling truth at the same time.

The fact that it was her husband who signed the Ukraine MLAT into law back in 1998 was a bonus that I didn’t hesitate to point out to her.

By the way, other than my friend, I saw no other commentator point out the existence of these treaties before I did.

Just wanted to point that out.

Here’s what I’m doing now: reading John Solomon’s Ukraine papers on Scribd. I think it’s very important for each of us – every interested voter – to see what type of beast we are dealing with. And it’s a rough beast. I’ve been saying some variation of the following of late.

To me, this was instinctive, but, as it turns out, one Glenn Beck seems to have connected all the players in the Ukraine game using his signature blackboard. Well worth your time.

President Trump is poised to spill the gravy.

HECK I FORGOT: Like Hunter Biden, Paul Pelosi, Jr., the son of Speaker Pelosi sits/sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. The video is a promo featuring the Speaker herself.

I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.

Juliette Akinyi Ochieng has been blogging since 2003 as baldilocks. Her older blog is here.  She published her first novel, Tale of the Tigers: Love is Not a Game in 2012.

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A thank you to Bill Clinton

Posted: October 1, 2019 by chrisharper in Uncomfortable Truths
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I would like to thank Bill Clinton for making me a conservative.

Before Clinton’s impeachment, I had a voting record that usually tilted toward the integrity of the candidate rather than his party. I supported George McGovern, Gerald Ford, Walter Mondale, and H. Ross Perot.

But Clinton’s sexual antics in the White House and subsequent perjury about them brought me into the conservative branch of the GOP.

It’s worthwhile recounting those days as the Trump impeachment process begins.

Simply put, the accusations against Trump and the media’s handling of the “facts”—are decidedly different than 20 years ago.

For example, Newsweek sat on a story about the sexual affair between Clinton and Monica Lewinsky because the magazine didn’t think it had enough confirmation about the accuracy of the account.

Think about that for a moment. A news organization actually trying to make sure it had a story right before publishing it. [Transparency note: I worked for Newsweek].

Matt Drudge, a Hollywood gossip reporter, got wind of the story and put out a story on his website that Newsweek was holding the report. It was the first major online scoop and pushed Drudge into the forefront of the news business. The publication of Newsweek’s caution or coverup—I’m not really certain which one—launched the online news industry, which dominates information throughout the world.

Ultimately, the House of Representatives passed two of the four articles of impeachment:

Article I charged that Clinton lied to the grand jury concerning:

  1. The nature and details of his relationship with Lewinsky
  2. Prior false statements he made in a deposition
  3. Prior false statements he allowed his lawyer to make characterizing Lewinsky’s affidavit
  4. His attempts to tamper with witnesses

Article III charged Clinton with obstruction of justice in a case brought by Paula Jones, who had accused him of sexual harassment:

  1. Encouraging Lewinsky to file a false affidavit
  2. Encouraging Lewinsky to give false testimony if and when she was called to testify
  3. Concealing gifts he had given to Lewinsky that had been subpoenaed
  4. Attempting to secure a job for Lewinsky to influence her testimony
  5. Permitting his lawyer to make false statements characterizing Lewinsky’s affidavit
  6. Attempting to tamper with the possible testimony of his secretary Betty Currie
  7. Making false and misleading statements to potential grand jury witnesses

I thought that Clinton should have been removed from office, but both articles failed to get the 67 votes in the Senate necessary to kick him out of the White House.

It’s rather ironic that had these “high crimes and misdemeanors” been discovered today, I am relatively certain that the #MeToo movement would have driven Clinton out of office.

Whatever the case, Clinton’s actions and the impeachment proceedings had a profound effect on me. Thank you, Bill!

Feds setting up a massive corruption net in Chicago area

Posted: September 29, 2019 by John Ruberry in News/opinion, politics
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Blogger post-race in McCook, Illinois in June

By John Ruberry

One thing hasn’t changed since the outage here at Da Tech Guy. Corruption in Illinois is rampant.

As I noted in this space, on the third day of 2019, Chicago’s most powerful alderman, Ed Burke, who has been in office for 50 years, was named in a criminal complaint centered on an extortion complaint from a fast food restaurant in his ward. In May, Burke was indicted on 14 corruption charges. Burke’s wife, Anne, sits on the Illinois Supreme Court. More on that later.

Around the time of the Burke indictment, the FBI raided the homes of Michael Zalewski, a former Chicago alderman, Kevin Quinn, the brother of another Chicago alderman, and Mike McClain, a lobbyist. All of them are close allies of Michael Madigan, Illinois House speaker for 34 of the last 36 years and the chairman of the state Democratic Party. Quinn’s brother represents the 13th Ward in Chicago’s City Council, where Madigan serves as Democratic committeeman.

Last Tuesday federal agents raided the suburban Chicago and Springfield offices of state Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Cicero). Half of his district is covered by Madigan’s House district. But the feds weren’t done last week. On Thursday they raided the village halls of McCook and Lyons, which are in Sandoval’s district. An insurance agency owned by the family of the mayor of Lyons was also raided. The mayor of McCook, a Democrat, is also a Cook County commissioner.

Clearly the federal government is on to something in Madigan’s geographic base, the Southwest Side of Chicago and its southwestern suburbs. Of course Madigan’s fierce grip reaches all the way to the Ohio River. However, Phil Turner, a former federal prosecutor, urges caution in jumping to conclusions in linking these raids to Boss Madigan’s activities.

In other Illinois corruption news, in June federal agents raided the ward office of Chicago alderman Carrie Austin. And last month state Sen. Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park), a distant cousin of state Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), was indicted on embezzlement charges.

Let me get back to Burke, or rather, the alderman’s wife, Anne. Earlier this month Anne was elevated to chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court.

Only in Illinois.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

The End is Nigh

Posted: September 28, 2019 by julietteochieng in Always look at the bright side of Trump, elections, politics
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Don’t be afraid

by baldilocks

In February 2016 at my blog, I published a post on what I call the Sandy Berger Precedent in relation to how Hillary Clinton got away with her gigantic and brazen email caper.

From Wikipedia:

On July 19, 2004, it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating [Clinton Administration National Security Adviser] Berger for unauthorized removal of classified documents in October 2003 from a National Archives reading room prior to testifying before the 9/11 Commission. The documents were five classified copies of a single report commissioned from Richard Clarke covering internal assessments of the Clinton Administration’s handling of the unsuccessful 2000 millennium attack plots. An associate of Berger said Berger took one copy in September 2003 and four copies in October 2003. Berger subsequently lied to investigators when questioned about the removal of the documents.

In April 2005, Berger pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material from the National Archives in Washington.

According to the lead prosecutor in the case, Berger only took copies of classified information and no original material was destroyed. Berger was fined $50,000, sentenced to serve two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, and stripped of his security clearance for 3 years.

I called it Rule of Law theater and concluded:

It’s important to keep pointing out what kind of Leviathan of corruption and, possibly, betrayal, our government has become.

This bears repeating yet again. Included in the pattern are Rathergate, the Russia Hoax, and now the Ukraine situation. These conspiracies have the same tilt; they come from the Left and most of them are intended to hobble Republican presidents.

The perpetrators are bold because they are long-entrenched in the federal government and in the media. And they will keep trying until …

What has them so afraid and implacable with this Republican president? He knows them and probably knows when the bodies are buried, figuratively, and, no doubt literally. He has the will to stop the cycle and, it appears, that’s what he’s been planning for far longer than the beginning of his presidential candidacy.

And here’s something else: he’s not afraid.

2020 is going to be a fun year.

Juliette Akinyi Ochieng has been blogging since 2003 as baldilocks. Her older blog is here.  She published her first novel, Tale of the Tigers: Love is Not a Game in 2012.

Follow Juliette on Facebook, Twitter, MeWe, Patreon and Social Quodverum.

Hit Da Tech Guy Blog’s Tip Jar !

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