Ocasio-Cortez Chief of Staff accused of diverting $1 million of campaign money to personal companies
According to this story Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Chief of Staff could be in a little bit of hot water for campaign finance violations. It looks like Saikat Chakrabarti diverted $1 million of campaign moneys into his own companies in order to hide where some of the donations were going. And to top it off it looks like he created these companies for the lone perpose.
Here is more:
Two political action committees founded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s top aide funneled over $1 million in political donations into two of his own private companies, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday.
The cash transfers from the PACs — overseen by Saikat Chakrabarti, the freshman socialist Democrat’s chief of staff — run counter to her pledges to increase transparency and reduce the influence of “dark money” in politics.
Chakrabarti’s companies appear to have been set up for the sole purpose of obscuring how the political donations were used.
The arrangement skirted reporting requirements and may have violated the $5,000 limit on contributions from federal PACs to candidates, according to the complaint filed by the National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group.
Campaign finance attorneys described the arrangement as “really weird” and an indication “there’s something amiss.” They said there was no way of telling where the political donations went — meaning they could have been pocketed or used by the company to pay for off-the-books campaign operations.
$1 million, that is not bad for the first time out! But I am sure she had no idea this was going on…
You have to give her credit though, she might be a political novice but it did not take her long to fit right in with the rest of them.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
The Democrats promised that if they took control of the House in the 2018 election they would open multiple investigations into the President and today we are learning the House has launched an obstruction of justice probe. Here is more:
The House Judiciary Committee will seek documents from more than 60 people and organizations as it begins investigations into possible obstruction of justice and abuse of power by President Donald Trump, the panel’s chairman said on Sunday.
Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told ABC’s “This Week” the panel wanted documents from the Department of Justice, the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, among others.
“We are going to initiate investigations into abuses of power, into corruption … and into obstruction of justice,” Nadler said. “It’s our job to protect the rule of law.”
“It’s very clear that the president obstructed justice,” Nadler said.
The charges of alleged obstruction stem from Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey (whom the left wanted fired for screwing up Hillary Clinton’s chance to become President, until he was fired.)
As evidence of obstruction, Nadler cited Trump’s May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey, who was leading an investigation into Russia activities in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with Trump’s campaign.
That investigation was subsequently taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is expected to deliver his findings to the U.S. attorney general within weeks.
To aid its inquiry into possible obstruction of justice, the committee is expected to focus its document requests on actions by Trump that could constitute efforts to remove perceived enemies and install more loyal replacements at the Justice Department, according to a person familiar with the matter.
If the President did indeed try to obstruct justice by firing James Comey and other than he did a lousy job because the investigation has gone on unimpeded and will soon be coming to an end according to reports.
Part of me wonders if the Democrats already know Robert Mueller’s investigation is coming to a close with no proof of collusion so they are preparing an obstruction investigation so they can keep the base up in arms until the 2020 election by claiming nothing was found because of the obstruction they are going to be looking for.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, March 3rd open thread: ‘Hotel California’
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
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Here is the Gipsy Kings performing their rendition of “Hotel California” live in 2018:
It is no secret that colleges and universities have become bastions of left wing intolerance. We have seen events which were to feature conservative speakers cancelled because the colleges were afraid of violence. Mind you we are not talking about the conservative speakers committing or inciting acts of violence, we are talking about people on campus threatening violence against the conservative speakers.
Rather than disciplining the people responsible for the threats the colleges have taken the easy way out and punished the scheduled speaker by shutting down free speech. And then there are the instances of violence we have seen when people do stand up and offer a different opinion, and the left is supposed to be the tolerant side…
Earlier today Donald Trump said he was going to do something to ensure free speech on college campuses. Here is more:
President Trump announced Saturday he intends to sign an executive order mandating colleges and universities take steps to guarantee free speech to attain federal research grants
“We reject oppressive speech codes, censorship, political correctness and every other attempt by the hard left to stop people from challenging ridiculous and dangerous ideas. These ideas are dangerous,” Trump said. “Instead we believe in free speech, including online and including on campus.”
“Today I’m proud to announce that I will be very soon signing an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support free speech if they want federal research grants.”
We know where this is headed if the President actually does sign an Executive Order on this, and in this case it will be very interesting to see how the courts spin their decision against allowing all voices to be heard on college campuses so that it does not sound like they are for shutting up these voices.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Last week the Trump administration issued a new rule which would cut Federal funding to Planned Parenthood by tens of millions of dollars. While that sounds like quite a bit of money in reality it is only a small portion of the money this organization receives annually from the Federal Government.
This new rule is actually an old rule which has been reinstated and it prevents abortions from being provided at facilities which accept Title X funding. Needless to say, abortion proponents see this as an attack on a woman’s right to choose and several states are filing a lawsuit to stop the new rule from being put in place.
Here is more:
Democrat-led states allied with Planned Parenthood are challenging the Trump administration’s new rule that would block about $60 million in family planning funding to the organization because it provides and refers for abortions.
Officials from Washington, Oregon, Connecticut, New York, and California say they will sue the Trump administration over the new rule that marks a clear line between abortion and family planning.
This was to be expected and recent history has shown us how this will go. There will be a judge out there who issues a stay against this rule while this makes its way through the court system and it will eventually make it to the Supreme Court where all bets are off.
Democrats have been hoping to ramp up the war on women angle for the 2020 election, they have been trying to bait the Republicans into the fight with the whole infanticide issue, and now with this new rule change. Democrats like to accuse the Republicans of holding illegal immigrants as political hostages but they are doing just that with the lives of unborn babies.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
There has been a bit of a civil war brewing in the Democratic party between the few remaining moderates in the party and the radicalized far-left hate-mongering Democrats and apparently it came to a head yesterday after the Republicans in the House won a procedural vote because all Democrats did not stick together.
A frustrated Nancy Pelosi called a meeting and basically told Democrats they are either with her or against her, here is more:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, known for her ability to keep her caucus together, is frustrated that her party is allowing Republicans to leverage the procedural tool as a political weapon.
“To those who think that they have to go down a certain path, understand the pressure you are putting on your colleagues,” Pelosi told Democrats during the caucus’s weekly whip meeting Thursday, according to a source in the room. “So, we are either a team or we’re not, and we have to make that decision.”
The new defacto head of the Democratic party, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took it a step further by pretty much warning the defectors that she is keeping an enemy list and will use it to make sure they lose their reelection bids.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among House Democrats who laced into moderates Thursday — threatening to run those who side with Republicans out of office in the 2020 primaries, according to a new report.
The hard-left freshman congresswoman led the charge in a closed-door session, saying some of her moderate colleagues are “putting themselves on a list,” her spokesman Corbin Trent told the Washington Post.
Ocasio-Cortez suggested she would help liberal activists to unseat moderates in the next election.
I find this little civil war to be quite entertaining and actually quite fascinating, but what I find even more interesting about this story is the issue which “triggered” these two people.
The House Democrats passed a bill which would require universal background checks on all gun sales but the Republicans were able to use a procedural tool to amend the bill so that if an illegal immigrant tried to purchase a weapon he or she would be reported to ICE.
But 26 moderate Democrats sided with Republicans in amending the bill to include a provision that requires a notification to ICE if an illegal immigrant wants to purchase a firearm, the Washington Post reported.
You really must stop and let that sink in for a moment or two in order to grasp it fully. If a background check turns up anything in an American citizen’s past which would prevent a person from purchasing a weapon he or she will be denied that weapon. However, if a background check turns up an outstanding warrant on an American citizen you can rest assured the proper authorities will be notified and it will lead to an arrest.
But if an illegal immigrant tries to purchase a weapon the proper authorities will not be notified and he or she will be allowed to go on their merry way, afforded a luxury not enjoyed by an American citizen.
The fact that Republicans were able to add this to the bill before it passed has infuriated the leaders of the Democratic party and if that does not show you that the party favors illegal immigrants over American citizens nothing will.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Virginia’s First Lady handed out cotton to African-American students during tour of the Governor’s mansion
This really is unbelievable in today’s day and age! It is being reported that, as if the racist Governor of Virginia did not have enough problems of his own, Virginia’s First Lady handed out raw cotton to African-American students during a tour of the Governor’s mansion and told the students to imagine being a slave and working on the grounds. Here is more:
A Virginia state employee is accusing Virginia first lady Pam Northam of giving her eighth-grade daughter and another African-American student raw cotton and telling them to imagine being slaves during a tour of the governor’s mansion.
“The Governor and Mrs. Northam have asked the residents of the Commonwealth to forgive them for their racially insensitive past actions,” Leah Dozier Walker, director of the state education department’s Office of Equity and Community Engagement, wrote to legislators this week, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
“But the actions of Mrs. Northam, just last week, do not lead me to believe that this Governor’s office has taken seriously the harm and hurt they have caused African Americans in Virginia or that they are deserving of our forgiveness.”
According to Walker, Northam singled out the only African-American children on a tour earlier this month that included about 20 young people who had served as pages during the state Senate session. She was reportedly describing past work by slaves who picked cotton on the grounds of the governor’s mansion.
Well, that is quite an odd thing to do isn’t it? What would make a person think of such a thing and even if you did come up with something like this what would make you think it was a good idea? It sounds like she was longing for the days of old…
And the kicker is this JUST happened, this is not something from the past which can be explained away by youthful ignorance. This actually happened after the recent blackface pictures came to light. Stay classy Virginia…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Ted Cruz could be the deciding vote in stopping Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration
Yesterday the House passed a bill which would prevent Donald Trump from re-appropriating monies from the Defense Department and other agencies in order to build a wall on the Mexican border, but its fate is a little less certain in the Senate.
I say a little less certain because it only takes four Republican votes to pass the legislation and right now there are three Republicans who are poised to vote yea. Those three are Thom Tillis, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski. That means the Democrats only need one more Republican to vote in favor of the bill in order to stop Donald Trump and, ironically enough it could be a Senator from Texas who casts the deciding vote.
According to this story Ted Cruz has some serious concerns with Donald Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency on the border and he is still undecided about this piece of legislation. Here is more:
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the Senate’s most knowledgeable experts on constitutional law, remains skeptical of the merits of President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to build a border wall, he told the Star-Telegram Tuesday.
“I am still assessing the legal authority of the arguments that the administration is putting forward,” Cruz said after a meeting with White House lawyers off the Senate chamber earlier that day.
“I emphatically agree that we have a crisis at the border and that we need to solve it, and I am grateful that the president and the administration are leading to secure the border and to build a wall,” said Cruz, who is among the Senate’s toughest border security voices.
“At the same time I’ve long said that any president, Republican or Democrat, must follow the constitution and must follow the laws,” added Cruz, a constitutional lawyer who made his career suing the federal government for overreach as Texas’ solicitor general.
“So I’m taking the time to consider and analyze the specific statutory authorities the administration is relying upon and their arguments as to why they might apply,” Cruz said.
I have to admit I share the same concerns as Ted Cruz, I did not like it when Barack Obama used executive action to work his way around the Congress and I do not like it now either.
It is going to be very interesting to see which way Ted Cruz ends up going on this, although in the end I believe he will most likely vote against it. But of course in the end even if it does pass it is highly unlikely there will be enough votes to overturn a Presidential veto.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Senate Democrats block bill to protect babies born alive
Since the 2016 election we have seen the Democratic take a hard left hand turn. This culminated with the 2018 election and also with the abortion bills we have seen come out of Virginia and New York.
In response to the shocking comments made by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, when he coldly described keeping a baby comfortable after birth until the mother and her doctor made a decision on whether or not to kill it, Republicans in the Senate tried to pass a bill which would protect babies which were born during a failed abortion. Democrats blocked the bill without even letting it get to the floor for a vote.
Here is more:
Senate Democrats failed to protect babies from infanticide when they are born alive following botched abortions.
On Monday, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, S. 311, failed, 53-44, with the requirement of a 60-vote supermajority for approval and only Democrats voting against it.
Introduced by Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, the legislation ensures any infant born alive after an abortion would be provided with medical care just as any other newborn.
To be fair there were three Democrats who did vote in favor of the legislation and they were Bob Casey, Doug Jones, and Joe Manchin, the rest of them all voted to not even allow a vote on an anti-infanticide bill.
That is how radical the Democratic party has become in a relatively short period of time and I have to say that at this point I am more saddened than anything else. I am also a little fearful of how radical the Democrats will become as they try to out-left each other as the 2020 election draws nearer.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
American hostage recovered from Yemen
So little good news comes out of Washington nowadays but today was one of those rare occasions. Earlier today Donald Trump announced the recovery of an American who was being held in Yemen since 2017, here is more:
President Donald Trump announced Monday that the United States has recovered Danny Burch, an American citizen who was being held hostage in Yemen for the last year and a half.
“It is my honor today to announce that Danny Burch, a United States citizen who has been held hostage in Yemen for 18 months, has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children,” Trump tweeted. “I appreciate the support of the United Arab Emirates in bringing Danny home. Danny’s recovery reflects the best of what the United States & its partners can accomplish.”
He continued, “We work every day to bring Americans home. We maintain constant and intensive diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement cooperation within the United States Government and with our foreign partners. Recovering American hostages is a priority of my Admin, and with Danny’s release, we have now secured freedom for 20 American captives since my election victory. We will not rest as we continue our work to bring the remaining American hostages back home!”
Here is a little background:
Burch, according to The New York Times, is an American oil worker who had spent years working as an engineer for a Yemeni oil company when he was abducted in Sanaa, Yemen, in 2017. According to Reuters, Iran-aligned Houthi forces were behind Burch’s kidnapping.
We do not have any more details about what the deal entailed or if this was just some kind of good faith arraignment, or if perhaps there was some gentle “persuasion” behind the scenes but Donald Trump has delivered another hostage. Welcome home Danny Burch!
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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