At the heart of "trade" agreements like NAFTA are traveling global courts empowered to charge taxpayers billions on behalf of corporations. Decisions aren't subject to appeal-Public Citizen

.
(Undated), "Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS): Extraordinary Corporate Power in "Trade" Deals," citizen.org

"At the heart of today's "trade" agreements like NAFTA are provisions that grant multinational corporations shocking new rights and powers that make it easier to outsource jobs and attack the environmental and heath laws on which we all rely.
 
Individual foreign corporations are empowered to sue governments before a panel of three corporate lawyers to demand unlimited compensation from taxpayers if they think a law or government action violates their new rights.

This corporate power grab is formally called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). 

How ISDS Works 

Deals like NAFTA give multinational corporations the power to sue the U.S. government in front of a tribunal of three corporate lawyers. These lawyers can order U.S. taxpayers to pay the corporations unlimited sums of money, including for the loss of “expected future profits” that the corporation would have earned in the absence of the public policy it is attacking.

The multinational corporations only need to convince the lawyers that a law protecting public health or the environment violates their special “trade” agreement rights. The corporate lawyers' decisions are not subject to appeal. And if a country does not pay, the corporation can seize a government’s assets — bank accounts, ships, airplanes — to extract the compensation ordered.

Not only do corporations get a special system of “justice” outside our courts, but it’s totally rigged in their favor.

One day a corporate lawyer can sit on an ISDS tribunal deciding cases and the next day they can attack our laws on behalf of a corporation. And, the lawyers deciding cases also get to decide who pays their large hourly fees. That means even when government’s “win” they often have to pay millions in legal costs.

ISDS also incentivizes the outsourcing of jobs by providing special privileges and rights for firms that relocate abroad. The special treatment for foreign investors that the ISDS system allows eliminates many of the costs and risks that make firms think twice about  

creating a global race to the bottom. 

Consequences of Expanded Corporate Power 

This extreme ISDS system already has been included in a series of U.S. "trade" deals and investment treaties. ISDS tribunals have ordered  taxpayers to hand over billions of dollars to corporations for toxics bans, land-use rules, regulatory permits, water and timber policies and more. 

And sometimes governments cave before the final ruling to try to limit how much they will pay. For instance, Canada lifted a ban on a gasoline additive banned in the U.S. as a known human neurotoxin after an investor-state attack by Ethyl Corporation under NAFTA. Canada also paid the firm $13 million and published a formal statement that the chemical was not hazardous.

Increasingly, the tribunals of lawyers are ordering massive payments. A tribunal ordered payment of more than $1.4 billion to a multinational oil firm after it violated the terms of its contract with the Ecuadorian government to explore for oil in the Amazon. TransCanada demanded $15 billion from the U.S. when the Obama administration rejected the Keystone XL pipeline.

Just under U.S. deals, tens of billions remain pending in corporate claims against climate and energy laws, medicine patent policies, pollution cleanup requirements, and other public interest policies we rely on to protect the environment, our health, safety and financial stability.

In the past few years, the number of such investor-state attacks has surged. From the 1950s – when this system was first established – until 2000, only 50 cases were initiated.

But now, more than 50 cases have been filed each year for the past six years, with a total of 760 cases launched. A whole industry of third-party financing and specialized law firms has sprung up to help multinational corporations extract our taxpayer dollars and roll back key public interest policies using the ISDS system. 

Fighting Back Against ISDS 

Some countries are challenging this outrageous system: South Africa, Indonesia, India and Ecuador are  terminating or renegotiating their treaties with ISDS provisions. Venezuela and Bolivia have already done so.

Eliminating ISDS is a central demand for NAFTA renegotiations across the political spectrum. Groups opposed to ISDS include: the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Attorneys General, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, small business organizations, hundreds of the nation’s leading legal and economics professors, and more. Stark criticism of ISDS has come from voices as disparate as U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Reagan-era associate deputy attorney general Bruce Fein, the pro-free-trade libertarian Cato Institute think tank, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, unions and environmental groups."

 

"Featured Resources:

• ISDS in NAFTA Fact Sheet: NAFTA's Legacy: Expanding Corporate Power to Attack Public Interest Laws
• Quote Sheet: Selected Statements and Actions Against ISDS
• Case Studies: Egregious Investor-State Attacks on Public Interest Policies
• Chart: See all corporate investor-state cases and claims launched under U.S. 'free trade' deals
• Activist-friendly Website: www.ISDScorporateattacks.org"

Scientists observe coldest temperatures on Earth in East Antarctica

.
6/30/18, "Scientists Observe Coldest Temperatures Ever on Earth’s Surface," Breitbart, Thomas Williams, PhD

"Researchers released a report this week revealing “ultralow surface temperatures” in East Antarctica that surpass the coldest temperatures ever recorded on the earth’s surface.

The lowest measured air temperature on earth is −89.2 °C (−129 F) on 23 July 1983, observed at Vostok Station in Antarctica, but new data published in Geophysical Research Letters this week, has found that some 100 different locations on the East Antarctic Plateau reached temperatures of -98° C (-144° F) during the Antarctic polar night between 2004–2016.

A team from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder have identified the East Antarctic Plateau — a massive, empty expanse the size of Australia that begins near the South Pole — as the coldest place on the planet.

The East Antarctic Plateau sits some 3,500 m (11,500 ft) above sea level and the air over the Plateau is extremely still, dry and thin, providing an ideal environment for extreme cold.

“In this area, we see periods of incredibly dry air, and this allows the heat from the snow surface to radiate into space more easily,” said Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado Boulder, lead author of the study.

East Antarctica is home to extremely low air and surface temperatures brought on by intense radiative cooling of the snow surface during prolonged wintertime periods of clear sky, weak winds, and very dry atmosphere, the report revealed.

The researchers analyzed data from NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, as well as the NOAA’s Polar Operational Environmental Satellites, gathered during the Antarctic winters between 2004 and 2016, and found that snow surface temperatures regularly dipped below -90° C (-130° F) across the Plateau, with some 100 spots reaching a lowest temperature of -98° C (-144° F).

“Approximately 100 sites have observed minimum surface temperatures of ~−98 °C during the winters of 2004–2016,” and the researchers believe that this represents close to the absolute coldest the earth’s surface can get....
 
The coldest temperatures were found where pockets of air sat still for several days, allowing it to reach ultra-cold levels.

While Vostok, Antarctica, still holds the world record for the coldest temperature ever measured by a land-based weather station, the scientists hope to deploy ground-based instruments in the coldest locations of the East Antarctic Plateau in the next year or two."

..............

Added: Warmest spots on Earth identified in 2006, two in Iran and one in Algeria:

From "Introduction: An earlier study identified the highest surface temperatures on Earth (three sites are essentially tied, two in Iran, and one in Algeria; Mildrexler et al., 2006), but concerns about cloud contamination limited attempts to identify record low temperature sites from satellite data over ice sheets."...


................ 

FBI arrests California man for threatening to murder FCC Chairman's family over net neutrality regulations-Dept. of Justice

.
6/29/18, "Man Arrested for Threatening to Murder Family of FCC Chairman," justice.gov 

"A California man was arrested today in Los Angeles on charges of threatening to kill the family of Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, for Pai’s role in repealing regulations relating to net neutrality. 

According to court documents, on or about Dec. 19 and 20, 2017, Markara Man, 33, of Norwalk, allegedly sent three emails to Chairman Pai’s email accounts. The first email accused Chairman Pai of being responsible for a child who allegedly had committed suicide because of the repeal of net neutrality regulations. The second email listed three locations in or around Arlington, and threatened to kill the Chairman’s family members. The third email had no message in its body, but included an image depicting Chairman Pai and, in the foreground and slightly out of focus, a framed photograph of Chairman Pai and his family. The FBI traced the emails to Man’s residence in Norwalk, California, and when initially confronted in May 2018, Man admitted to the FBI that he sent the email threatening Chairman Pai’s family because he was “angry” about the repeal of the net neutrality regulations and wanted to “scare” Chairman Pai. 

Man is charged with a threatening to murder a member of the immediate family of a U.S. official with the intent to intimidate or interfere with such official while engaged in the performance of official duties, or with the intent to retaliate against such official on account of the performance of official duties. If convicted, Man faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander P. Berrang is prosecuting the case. 

The FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, the Federal Protective Service, and the Arlington County Police Department provided significant assistance in this investigation. 

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:18-mj-289."




...........

Canada is most-sued country by NAFTA Trade Tribunals as of Jan. 2015. Surprisingly little debate in Canada about negative influence of NAFTA courts

.
1/14/2015, “NAFTA’s Chapter 11 Makes Canada Most-Sued Country Under Free Trade Tribunals,” Huffington Post, Sunny Freeman

“Canada is the most-sued country under the North American Free Trade Agreement and a majority of the disputes involve investors challenging the country’s environmental laws, according to a new study.

The study from the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) found that more than 70 per cent of claims since 2005 have been brought against Canada, and the number of challenges under a controversial settlement clause is rising sharply.

The investor-state dispute settlement [ISDS] mechanism contained in NAFTA’s chapter 11 grants investors the right to sue foreign governments without first pursuing legal action in the country’s court systems, in order to protect foreign investors from discrimination. Drafters of the 1994 treaty included the provision to protect U.S. and Canadian investors against corruption in Mexican courts.

Critics argue that the mechanism limits governments from enacting policies on legitimate public concerns such as the environment and labour or human rights, and that negotiations are often carried out in secret.

The CCPA believes the federal government’s strong commitment to Chapter 11 and its willingness to settle and compensate claimants is encouraging more cases against Canada. There were 12 cases brought against Canada from 1995 to 2005, while in the decade since there have been 23.

The 35 claims brought against Canada comprise 45 per cent of the total number of claims under NAFTA. That’s significantly more than Mexico’s 22 or the 20 brought against the U.S. Canada has lost or settled six claims paying a total of $170 million in damages, while Mexico has lost five cases and paid out $204 million. The U.S.,meanwhile, has won 11 cases and has never lost a NAFTA investor-state case.

“Thanks to NAFTA chapter 11, Canada has now been sued more times through investor-state dispute settlement than any other developed country in the world,” said Scott Sinclair, who authored the study.

MORE: Six times Canada had to pay foreign investors under NAFTA’s Chapter 11

Even when countries win the legal costs of fighting an investor claim, it can cost millions of dollars. Sinclair estimates Canada has spent $65 million defending such claims over the past two decades.

About 63 per cent of the claims against Canada involved challenges to environmental protection or resource management programs that allegedly interfere with the profits of foreign investors. The government has lost some of these environmental challenges and has been forced to overturn legislation protecting the environment.

In 1997, the Ethyl Corporation, a U.S. chemical company, used chapter 11 to challenge a Canadian ban on the import of MMT, a gasoline additive that is a suspected neurotoxin and which automakers have said interferes with cars’ diagnostic systems. The company won damages of $15 million and the government was forced to remove the policy.

A year later, U.S.-based S.D. Myers challenged Canada’s temporary ban on the export of toxic PCP waste, which was applied equally to all companies. Canada argued it was obliged to dispose of the waste within its own borders under another international treaty. However, the tribunal ruled the ban was discriminatory and violated NAFTA’s standards for fair treatment.

There are currently eight cases against the Canadian government asking for a total of $6 billion in damages. All of them were brought by U.S. companies.

Many of those current challenges involve domestic environmental protections such as the promotion of renewable energies, a moratorium on offshore wind projects on Lake Ontario and Nova Scotia’s decision to block a contentious mega-quarry.

In one case, a Calgary headquartered company that is registered in the U.S., Lone Pine Resources Inc., is suing the Canadian government for $250 million over Quebec’s moratorium on natural gas fracking, which applies equally to foreign and domestic companies. Lone Pine argues it was not consulted before the ban nor compensated for its wasted investment or loss of potential revenue.

Sinclair argues that the threat of challenges under chapter 11 has a chilling effect on public interest regulation, which will only worsen unless political and legal action is taken.

“Buoyed by their past successes, foreign investors and their legal advisors are now turning to NAFTA chapter 11 with increasing frequency and assertiveness,” he wrote.

“Unfortunately, compared to other parts of the world, there is surprisingly little political debate about the corrosive influence of ISDS on public policy and democracy in Canada.”

Canada is embarking on a new generation of multinational treaties such as the European Union free trade deal and the Trans Pacific Partnership, both of which contain investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) systems. While governments can be sued under ISDS, there is no similar recourse for states to hold foreign investors, often wealthy corporations, accountable for their actions.

Six times Canada had to pay foreign investors under NAFTA’s Chapter 11:Case: Ethyl Corp. (1997)
Amount awarded: US$13 million, out-of-court settlement.
What happened: The U.S. chemical company challenged a Canada-wide ban on import and trade of the gasoline additive MMT, a suspected neurotoxin. Following a preliminary judgement against Canada, the government repealed the ban, issued an apology and paid a settlement.
2. Case: S.D. Meyers (1998)
Amount awarded: CDN$6.05 million, plus interest and compensation.
What happened: The U.S. waste disposal firm challenged a temporary Canadian ban on the export of toxic PCB wastes, something the country was obliged to do under an international environmental treaty. The tribunal ruled that Canada violated standards of treatment under NAFTA.
3.Pope and Talbot (1998)
Amount awarded: CDN$870,000.
What happened: The U.S. lumber company challenged Canada’s lumber export rules implemented under the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement. The tribunal ruled Canada violated NAFTA’s minimum standards of treatment.
4. Mobil Investments/Murphy Oil (2007)
Amount awarded: Not yet determined, but damages continue to accrue as long as violating guideline in effect.
What happened: The oil investors argued that Canada’s guidelines requiring energy companies to invest in research and development in Newfoundland and Labrador are inconsistent with NAFTA rules. The tribunal ruled in favour of the investors and Canada is liable to pay damages.
5. AbitibiBowater (2009)
Amount awarded: CDN$130 million in settlement — the largest NAFTA-related settlement to date.
What happened: The pulp and paper company closed its last mill in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2008 and the provincial government enacted legislation to return its timber and water rights to the Crown and expropriate some of its lands and assets associated with water and hydroelectric rights. Abitibi was to be paid fair market value for the assets.The company launched a NAFTA claim and the government decided to settle without going to court.
6. St. Marys (2011)
Amount awarded: $15 million.
What happened: The company alleges its Canadian subsidiary was the victim of political interference when it tried to open a quarry near Hamilton, Ont., after residents grew concerned about the groundwater. The provincial government issued a zoning order preventing the site from being converted into a quarry and the company claimed that was unfair and discriminatory. The parties reached a settlement in 2013 that saw the company withdraw the claim in exchange for compensation from the Ontario government.

Source: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives”

................

Reporter at Massachusetts newspaper resigns after falsely claiming Annapolis newspaper killer had a Trump hat and dropped it "on newsroom floor" before opening fire-Daily Caller

.
6/29/18, "Reporter Who Falsely Claimed Annapolis Shooter Wore MAGA Hat Resigns," Daily Caller, Andrew Kerr

"A reporter at a Massachusetts-based newspaper resigned Friday after falsely claiming in a tweet Thursday that the man who killed five employees at the Capital Gazzete newspaper left a “Make America Great Again” hat at the crime scene.

“Shooter who killed 4 people at Annapolis newspaper dropped his #MAGA hat on newsroom floor before opening fire,” Conor Berry, a reporter at The Republican in Springfield, Mass., wrote in a now-deleted tweet.



Berry, who covered politics and crime for The Republican, apologized for the “stupid” and “regrettable” tweet Friday, adding that it made his 21-year career as a journalist come to a “screeching halt.”

Folks, My 21-year career as a “journalist,” a fancy term that makes my skin crawl, frankly, came to a screeching halt yesterday with one stupid, regrettable tweet. Can’t take it back; wish I could. My sincere apologies to all good, hardworking reporters and to POTUS supporters.

— CONOR BERRY (@CBerry413) June 29, 2018

Berry’s bio on Twitter now reads: “Former newspaper reporter.”

Berry took full responsibility for the tweet in a resignation notice posted Friday on The Republican’s website.

“I am ashamed of my tweet, which taints the good work of fair-minded journalists everywhere,” Berry said.

“We need to be more vigilant than ever to be fair and accurate in a climate in which we are scrutinized and criticized,” said Wayne Phaneuf, the executive editor of the newspaper, in a statement.

In a follow-up interview with the Boston Globe, Berry said his tweet was a “snarky, sarcastic, cynical remark,” and lamented that his tweet gave more fuel to critics of the news media that believe reporters try to push a partisan agenda."



.................

Henry in tears because he's proud to be an American and so happy Trump's leading the country-June 29, 2018

.

Above, 6/29/18, "I'M LITERALLY IN TEARS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF PRESIDENT TRUMP!!" Henry Davis twitter

https://twitter.com/Henryhahadavis/status/1012705322266316801/video/1

..........

Fact Check: She may be a Socialist but 'girl from the Bronx' grew up in one of richest counties in the US. After high school she attended Boston University and worked for Sen. Ted Kennedy-Caplan, Breitbart

.
“After high school, Ocasio-Cortez studied international relations and economics at Boston University and worked for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA).” 

6/29/18, “Fact Check: ‘Girl from the Bronx’ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Grew Up in One of Richest U.S. Counties,“ Breitbart, Joshua Caplan

“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Party’s rising socialist star, describes herself as “a girl from the Bronx” to project a working-class image. However, this claim is only half true – to borrow a phrase from the left-wing website PolitiFact.

“Well, you know, the president is from Queens, and with all due respect — half of my district is from Queens — I don’t think he knows how to deal with a girl from the Bronx,” Ocasio-Cortez said this week on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

She similarly told the Washington Post: “I wasn’t born to a wealthy or powerful family — mother from Puerto Rico, dad from the South Bronx. I was born in a place where your Zip code determines your destiny.”

The congressional candidate, who pulled off an upset win against high-ranking establishment Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), was indeed born in New York City’s Bronx borough. She currently lives there, too.

So what’s the issue? For most of her formative years, Ocasio-Cortez was actually raised in one of the United States’ wealthiest counties.

Around the age of five, Alexandria’s architect father Sergio Ocasio moved the family from the “planned community” of Parkchester in the Bronx to a home in Yorktown Heights, a wealthy suburb in Westchester County. The New York Times describes her childhood home as “a modest two-bedroom house on a quiet street.” In a 1999 profile of the area, when Ocasio-Cortez would have been ten years old, the Times lauded Yorktown Heights’ “diversity of housing in a scenic setting” – complete with two golf courses.
 
The paper quoted Linda Cooper, the town supervisor, describing Yorktown as ”a folksy area where people can come, kick off their shoes, wander around, sit in a cafe, listen to a concert in the park, or go to the theater.”

In a fun coincidence, Yorktown, which contains Yorktown Heights, is also home to a 436-acre state park named after – yes, one Donald J. Trump.

After high school, Ocasio-Cortez studied international relations and economics at Boston University and worked for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA). Only after college did Ocasio-Cortez return to the Parkchester complex, where she launched Brook Avenue Press, a publishing group aimed at improving the public image of the Bronx.

Westchester County – which the Washington Post, in a glowing profile on Ocasio-Cortez, describes as only “middle class” – ranks #8 in the nation for the counties with the “highest average incomes among the wealthiest one percent of residents.” According to the Economic Policy Institute, the county’s average annual income of the top one percent is a staggering $4,326,049.

Yorktown Heights, specifically, offers a sharp contrast from Bronx living. According to USA.com, the town’s population is 81 percent white, and median household income is $96,413 – nearly double the average for both New York state and the nation, according to data from 2010-2014.

The 28-year-old’s far-left platform includes abolishing ICE, universal guaranteed employment, and Medicare for all. In an interview with CNN, Ocasio-Cortez said she supports impeaching President Trump, despite warnings from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to avoid the issue.”
…………..

Added: "We wonder how long it will take Ocasio-Cortez to ride the "Democratic Socialist" wave until she's firing off tweets from her third home and making $1 million, two years in a row, like Bernie Sanders."



.............. 

Deep State of course humiliated GOP. Goodlatte committee merely confirmed that GOP, FBI and DOJ are corrupt and have nothing but contempt for US taxpayers-Commenters to Goodlatte committee...(Smirking DOJ is effectively a foreign government stealing from US taxpayers)

.
"Rosenstein was sure burning, or at least smoldering in his seat, as [Ohio Republican Rep. Jim] Jordan badgered him about threatening House staffers by subpoenaing their emails and phone calls…! The gotcha moment: “You can’t subpoena a phone call,” Rosenstein answered, trying to suppress his mirthful smirk… as in, listen to me, you dim, Rotarian, Buckeye clod, with your worthless JD from the most obscure law school in the darkest corner of your meth-and vicodan-addled state… you can’t subpoena a phone call, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…! Had Mr. Jordan been a little more nimble of mind in his Dude role, had he not, say, downed that Red Bull and Ayahuasca “pick-me-up” before the committee session, he might have come back smartly at Mr. Rosenstein with a simple, “…yes, but you can subpoena the records of phone calls, can’t you?”...Only the poor clod muffed it, and Rosenstein’s praetorian guard of attorneys in the seats behind him joined in the mirthful smirkery, grand fellows of the Deep State are we, we eat Buckeyes for breakfast!"...6/29/18, "Hidden Figures," Jim Kuntsler via Zero Hedge....
..................

Added: Rosenstein can say anything he wants and nothing will happen to him (source below). He says he had no idea what he was signing when he signed FISA warrants authorizing spying on Trump campaign and presidency. Sure, whatever. Standard testimony in the third world toilet the US has become without a shot being fired:

 

Above, via comment, citizen817, June 30, 2018 at 12:25 am, to post: "June 30th – 2018 Presidential Politics – Trump Administration Day #527," tcth, sundance 
.....................

6/29/18, "Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte Discusses Strzok and Rosenstein Testimony," tcth, sundance 

"The House Judiciary Committee has primary oversight authority over the DOJ. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte discusses the testimony from FBI Agent Peter Strzok, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, along with the next steps." [Such as Goodlatte's pathetic, "We're going to restore the reputation of the FBI."]

................. 

Among comments
..................

"Ellie says:

June 29, 2018 at 3:14 pm

 

These pols are delusional. How can they possibly think they can restore people’s trust in the FBI?"

................... 

"mimbler says:

June 29, 2018 at 4:47 pm 

I saw a big FU to the questioners and to the American people. They weren’t scared nor nervous. They know they are untouchable (for whatever reason, I have no idea). Their attitude does not reflect ongoing investigations, sealed indictments, etc. It signifies they are still in control."

................. 

"4sure says:

June 29, 2018 at 3:37 pm

 

The leaders in Congress are NEVER going to admit that they lost oversight on two agencies that went rogue on them while they turned a blind eye. It would expose them for the incompetent owned special interest whores they are. That why Ryan and McConnell are sitting this one out."

.................

"Archie says:

June 29, 2018 at 3:56 pm 

Probably a wrong interpretation. Ryan and McConnell were happy with the rogue status of the agencies as good UniParty members. You will of notice that no GOP member of Congress is really saying much as they are 95% against Trump."

...................

"mimbler says:

June 29, 2018 at 4:49 pm

 

Exactly Archie. Even if they had “lost control” the headlines would be about how they were gaining control. It would only be positive press. So yes, they were/are happy with the soft coup by FBI/DOJ."

........................

"MSO says:

June 29, 2018 at 3:40 pm

 

It’s unfathomable, no it’s just plain silly that we have no members of the house or the senate that can gain clearance for and access to any and all DOJ/FBI/CIA/NSA documents. How is it that some junior FBI hire out college can gain such access but those charged with oversight cannot?"

.............

"Cheeshead54016 says:

June 29, 2018 at 3:40 pm

 

Career DOJ and FBI folks investigating their own is crazy dumb in my opinion. Similar to a cop investigating his momma, uncle or cousin."

...............................

"David Vicknair says:

June 29, 2018 at 3:42 pm

 

Restoration of trust is out of the question as long as the DOJ...and FBI are represented by feckless swamp creatures like "I Just Sign FISA Submissions I Don't Actually Read Them" Rod Rosenstein and the ever smug Christopher Wray."
 
.....................................

"Johnny says:

June 29, 2018 at 4:19 pm

 

Goodlatte is a coward plain and simple. Speak the truth to the American people.

1 Sedition is rampant in DOJ and FBI.
 
2 America was almost ended by a Socialist takeover attempt. Admit that Brennan initiated a coup attempt and Mueller is carrying it forward

3 Destroy these agencies right now. Defund them now. No new money for next year until all the conspiracy has been brought to the light of day for American people to see and then let the Local Sheriff’s handle it from now on.

4 Disband the FISA court immediately. No secret courts ever again. No more Patriot Act....

6 All people prosecuted by the FBI need to be freed immediately. I can not believe these people incarcerated got a fair trial because of the forgery committed on evidence the government submitted."...

.........................

"Concerned says:

June 29, 2018 at 4:26 pm

 

Is Rosenstein and Wray the best Director of the FBI and Assistant AG President Trump could come up with? WOW!"

.................

"Koot Katmando says:

June 29, 2018 at 4:29 pm

 

Outraged watching Wray’s and Rosey’s demeanor in the clips shown – even though I seen it yesterday. They have to nerve to strut in after reading that IG report? They obviously do not get the lack of trust in the FBI and DOJ. I am to the point I think they should completely disband the FBI and DOJ. I have lost all faith in the FBI do do its job and yes that includes many of the rank and file. Stop the BS saying the problem is just at the top. There have been too damn many shooting incidences they have missed. The hiring and promotion practices of the last decade have destroyed the institution. They have become more concerned with social justice issues than protecting us."
................

"Concerned says:

June 29, 2018 at 4:37 pm

 

Unfortunately, for President Trump the buck stops with him! He hired them, he must fire them."...

..............



............

Trump called for elimination of all trade barriers, said ultimate goal is free trade for all countries-CNN

.

6/9/18, "Trump calls for elimination of tariffs, end to US being world's 'piggy bank'," CNN, Victoria Cavaliere 

"President Donald Trump on Saturday said he wanted to see the elimination of trade barriers between the United States and its closest allies amid tensions over the Trump administration's move to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico. 

Speaking during an impromptu news conference at the G7 summit in Canada on Saturday, Trump said his ultimate goal was the elimination of all trade duties.

"Ultimately that's what you want," he said. "You want a tariff free. You want no barriers. And you want no subsidies. Because you have some cases where countries are subsidizing industries and that's not fair."

Later Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would with "absolute certainty" impose retaliatory measures on July 1 to answer Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum. He said the argument that Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum are a matter of national security are "kind of insulting." Trudeau said Canadians are nice but added, "We will not be pushed around."...

The remarks prompted Trump to accuse Trudeau of making "false statements" and to say the United States would not endorse the G7 communique.

"Based on Justin's false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!," the President tweeted on Saturday.

In a second tweet, Trump wrote, "PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, 'US Tariffs were kind of insulting' and he 'will not be pushed around.' Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!" 

Trump had warned hours earlier that the United States would not allow the continued imposition of trade barriers by other nations.

"Great meetings and relationships with the six Country Leaders especially since they know I cannot allow them to apply large Tariffs and strong barriers to ... U.S.A. Trade," Trump wrote in a pair of tweets. "They fully understand where I am coming from. After many decades, fair and reciprocal Trade will happen!" 

"The United States will not allow other countries to impose massive Tariffs and Trade Barriers on its farmers, workers and companies," Trump continued. "While sending their product into our country tax free."...

Trump said he discussed the idea of eliminating tariffs with his G7 counterparts. 

"I did suggest it...I guess they are going to go back to the drawing board and check it out," Trump said. "The relationships are very good," he added, mentioning his discussions with French and Canadian leaders specifically."...



...............

Harvard is essential part of Military Industrial Complex and works with US intel agencies to surveil innocent Americans. Most problems in the world can be traced back to "experts" at Harvard which is a $40 billion Wall St. hedge fund with "university" facade- Shiva Ayyadurai, independent candidate for US Senate from Massachusetts, Taunton Daily Gazette op-ed

.

6/27/18, "Opinion: It’s time to take back Harvard," Taunton [Mass.] Daily Gazette, by Shiva Ayyadurai ("Shiva Ayyadurai holds four degrees from MIT, including a Ph.D, and is running for US Senate as an Independent.")

"Harvard University exemplifies everything that is wrong with the American educational system, and represents the epicenter of a self-serving centralized power structure. My opponent in the race for the U.S. Senate, Elizabeth Warren, is a creature of that structure.

Elizabeth Warren got paid $350,000 per year for teaching just one course, in law, which doesn’t really require any skill or intellect. 

What is outrageous is that Harvard receives close to $1 billion in grants and even more in tax subsidies, taken from you --- the hardworking American.

Real Indians, be it the Iroquois or those of ancient India, held sacred a time-honored principle: separation of powers. In ancient India, the political, financial, knowledge keeper, and producer institutions were kept separate to prevent “insider trading.”

However, today, the same people who control education at Harvard also dominate Wall Street, write the nation’s laws, and operate global behemoths like Monsanto. They are a singular cohesive community who funnel vast sums of money to themselves, draft self-serving policies, control judicial appointments, own the media, grant taxpayer monies to non-profits, while creating monopolies from tax cuts, bailouts and venture funding.

They do all this and work with intelligence agencies that illegally surveillance innocent Americans. To add insult to injury, Harvard faculty generate propaganda -- academic, “peer-reviewed” papers --- that claim their method of running the world is the best, while trampling our political and free speech rights.

In short, Harvard is the alpha and omega of the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex -- the “Deep State,” a term we often hear these days. Almost every problem in the world -- be it corruption, an economic crash, mass poverty, or a civil strife -- can be traced back to “experts” at Harvard.

Meanwhile, Harvard faculty preach, with a neo-messianic attitude, that they are the saviors of the poor and oppressed. They purport to know the plight of African-Americans by supporting affirmative action, but their faculty roster, especially Warren’s Harvard Law School, reflects apartheid within. Harvard professors, who write our laws, want to tax us, but Harvard is tax-exempt.

Harvard professors rant against Wall Street and the power of big banks, but Harvard is a $40 billion Wall Street hedge fund with a “university” facade, which uses a relatively meager $2 billion to fund its educational activities. Harvard professors lament against gentrification, but Harvard has invaded and destroyed the diverse local Cambridge neighborhood taking over prime real estate from the poor. Its greed has no bounds, even spanning continents to displace black farmers in Africa and grabbing their lands.

Devastation, racism and segregation are what Harvard delivers, best reflected in a recent report that calculates the average net worth of blacks in the Boston area, a few miles from Elizabeth Warren’s home in Cambridge, to be a mere $8! The reason has been attributed to “systemic racism,” but Harvard is the system that manufactures the racism and economic segregation, to which it is colorblind, when one considers the deplorable situation of poor whites. 

I believe Harvard needs to be investigated for racketeering. It must be punished for its crime, starting in its own backyard -- the racism in its faculty composition. Any corporation that wields as much power as Harvard, would have been busted up a long time ago.

Neither Republican nor Democrat, however, will ever bite the Harvard hand. Harvard nurtures its own, Democrat and Republican “leaders” -- one tribe with two faces that switch with grace and ease. Elizabeth Warren, a lifelong Republican, became a Democrat, upon moving to Cambridge and joining Harvard in 1995.

As an Independent senator, I will serve you and take on Harvard without pressure from any party’s establishment. Let us not forget that Harvard was founded, and still lives off, taxpayer money. It is high time that Harvard pay reparations to local citizens, return its funds and be converted to a real university -- perhaps even a community college."

Massachusetts

.......................

Above via Rush Limbaugh, 6/28/18

(scroll down): "When we first learned of the informant that the FBI had implanted in the Trump investigation, this collusion case, remember the name Stefan Halper? Stefan Halper was the guy that somehow found his way into the life of George Papadopoulos and had implanted with Papadopoulos — along with his buddy Joseph Mifsud, a professor from Malta — that the Russians had a whole bunch of Hillary Clinton emails.

Well, this guy, Stefan Halper, has been a lecturer and professor at Cambridge, at Oxford. He’s got some ties to Harvard. But he’s big in MI6 and the CIA. MI6 is the U.K. version of CIA. And then Mifsud, the Maltese professor… That’s actually how he’s identified in all these news stories....

I made the observation that all of these spies and all of these implants and all of these people working with the FBI come from academe. They come from the equivalent of the Ivy League in the U.K., which would be Oxford and Cambridge, and they come from Harvard and Yale here. And sure enough, Stefan Halper was a lecturer at Harvard and has had connections there. Well, there is a story today in a small paper called the Taunton Daily Gazette in Massachusetts by Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, and he is running for office.
He’s an accredited academic himself. He’s got four degrees from MIT, including a Ph.D., and he’s running for the United States Senate as an independent. His piece is, “It’s Time to Take Back Harvard,” exposing the truth about Harvard” and so forth. It’s a really, really good piece that details how Harvard and Yale and all of these Ivy League institutions prepare people for positions of power and authority in what we’re calling the establishment, the deep state, ruling class, or whatever. Let me give you a pull quote from his piece.

“However, today, the same people who control education at Harvard also dominate Wall Street, write the nation’s laws, and operate global behemoths like Monsanto. They are a singular cohesive community who funnel vast sums of money to themselves, draft self-serving policies, control judicial appointments, own the media, grant taxpayer monies to non-profits, while creating monopolies from tax cuts, bailouts and venture funding. They do all this and work with intelligence agencies that illegally surveillance innocent Americans. To add insult to injury, Harvard faculty generate propaganda — academic, ‘peer-reviewed’ papers — that claim their method of running the world is the best, while trampling our political and free speech rights.”

Another pull quote: “Almost every problem in the world — be it corruption, an economic crash, mass poverty, or a civil strife — can be traced back to ‘experts’ at Harvard,” and the reason the piece appealed to me is because I think it’s true....

They know each other, they network with each other, and they end up — even though they’ve never earned a lot of money — when you find their net worth statement, you find it’s overflowing even though they’ve never had jobs outside government. Members of the House and Senate show up in Washington with nothing and they retire after a few years and they’re millionaires. How does this happen?

This is what this guy writing the story is talking about. But it is a club, and there is an official training for in the United States government, and it does come from the Ivy League. But it doesn’t stop at the government....Now, of course this is what education supposed to do. It’s supposed to enable you to excel the things. But this is more than that. This is while you’re learning how to excel, you’re also being groomed and taught how to fit in and how to be part of a very, very (in terms of population) small group of people in whom the vast majority of power in this country is vested.

And it’s this group of people that’s out of their minds over Donald Trump. This group… What has happened with Trump, this is not possible. In their world, this is not possible....He’s not one of them....He’s not supposed to be able — nobody is — to come in and...get elected, and then after only, you know, less than two years show how ineffective these people are at supposedly leading the country, representing America, doing the best for America.

Trump is exposing a lot of things that nobody was supposed to ever see, and this is why they have to get rid of him. It’s why they have to do whatever they can to discredit him and to invalidate him with everything that he does, and it’s why they go after him on the basis that he’s rude and crude and unsophisticated, because those are key ingredients and requirements for admission into this club — and it extends to the same kind of people in the U.K. These are the people running the European Union. These are the people at the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

They’re all in this, and I was glad to see this piece, because it confirmed my instincts about it....This guy that wrote the piece... actually makes mention of the fact that Harvard could be sued for racketeering, given what they’ve produced and how people are trained and educated, and I don’t doubt any of that for a minute.

He says, “...To add insult to injury, Harvard faculty generate propaganda — academic, ‘peer-reviewed’ papers — that claim their method of running the world is the best, while trampling our political and free speech rights. In short, Harvard is the alpha and omega of the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex — the ‘Deep State,’ a term we often hear these days. Almost every problem in the world — be it corruption, an economic crash, mass poverty, or a civil strife — can be traced back to ‘experts’ at Harvard,” and then he writes here, “I believe Harvard needs to be investigated for racketeering.”
 
Now, that’s never gonna happen, and this may not be news to you. I was just excited to see it, because it confirmed yet again my unassailable instincts about things. But this is the root even of the so-called conservative Never Trumpers. There’s also a piece in the Stack today by a guy who’s done a little informal survey. In not one national newspaper — such as USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post (given the internet, it’s national) — there isn’t one, not a single pro-Trump columnist. Not a single one! Plenty of conservatives, but every damned one of them hates Trump. George Will, Ross Douthat, David Brooks, Bret Stephens, Washington Post, New York Times, to a man they despise Trump, even while watching everything they’ve devoted their lives to (supposedly) being implemented as policy. They can't stand it that Trump is the one doing it. And there’s genuine hatred. So these people are all unified, they’re all together, and the Never Trumpers on the so-called Republican/conservative side are part of the cabal as well.

They do think of themselves as special and a cut above — intellectually, in terms sophistication and all this — and Trump is just continuing to drive them increasingly batty." image above from RushLimaugh.com. Segment, "Fireworks at Rosenstein Hearing"


..............
 

Southwest Key has no heart for refugees. US taxpayers have so much heart they give Southwest Key president a tax free salary of $770,860 and Southwest Key's #2 a tax free salary of $530,587, per latest IRS records. Too bad Southwest Key doesn't give some of those huge salaries to refugees they supposedly care about

.
"Southwest Key Programs, Inc.," IRS return for fiscal year ending August 2016, organization exempt from income tax, full text of form 990, projects.propublica.org

Scroll to Part VII, Section A, Compensation of officers:

Above, Pres. Juan Sanchez tax free salary $770,860, CFO Melody Chung tax free salary $530,587

Above, tax free salaries for top 7 at Southwest Key




..............

22 year old pervert Joel Davis preferred sex with infants and toddlers, gained fame for supposedly fighting sexual violence against children, was UN special rep. on sexual violence against children in conflict, traveled the world, hung with Angela Jolie. Arrested by FBI for child molestation and child porn. Appeared on Al Jazeera, published on HuffPo-Washington Post

.
US v Joel Davis

6/28/18, "Ivy League student known for fighting sexual violence is charged with child sex crimes," Washington Post, Samantha Schmidt 

"Authorities came across Joel Davis when an FBI agent posted a message on a 'fetish' website where people leave ads soliciting children for sex, according to the criminal complaint." 

"For a 22-year-old Columbia University student, Joel Davis had built an impressive reputation as an activist for ending sexual violence.

He was the founding executive director of the international organization Youth to End Sexual Violence. He served as a youth ambassador for the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. He was on the steering committee of the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict, a group of more than 5,000 human rights organizations and experts worldwide.

Davis traveled around the world, worked alongside high-profile activists like Angelina Jolie, delivered a TED talk and appeared on media panels. In 2015, at the age of 19, he claimed to have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

His work focused particularly on ending sexual violence against the most vulnerable victims – children.

Yet behind this virtuous front, Davis was allegedly committing the same types of crimes he claimed to be fighting, federal prosecutors now say. On Tuesday, authorities arrested Davis on charges of attempting to sexually exploit a child, enticing a child to engage in sexual activity and possessing child pornography. If convicted, he could face a long sentence.

No plea has been entered for him and he did not respond to messages from The Washington Post.

Over the course of several weeks between May and late June, prosecutors say, Davis exchanged text messages with undercover FBI agents, trying to arrange meetings with a 9-year-old girl, an 8-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy. Davis allegedly sent the undercover agents sexually explicit photos and videos of children as young as infants, and made clear that he wanted to have sex with children of any age, according to a federal criminal complaint.

He also admitted to meeting a 13-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr, speaking with him on Snapchat, and engaging in sexual activity with the boy at Davis’s Manhattan apartment in June, according to the complaint.

“Having started an organization that pushed for the end of sexual violence, Davis displayed the highest degree of hypocrisy by his alleged attempts to sexually exploit multiple minors,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said. “As if this wasn’t repulsive enough, Davis allegedly possessed and distributed utterly explicit images of innocent infants and toddlers being sexually abused by adults.”

Authorities came across Davis when an FBI agent posted a message on a “fetish” website where people leave ads soliciting children for sex, according to the criminal complaint.

“Looking for other no limits TABOO pervs in DC area,” read the message posted by the FBI. “Bi dad here.”

A person with the screen name “yngperv22″ responded saying: 

“Need me to come down and watch ur kids for a night : ).” That person was subsequently identified as Joel Davis, according to the criminal complaint. Davis exchanged phone numbers and began texting the original poster, not knowing he was an undercover FBI agent.

Davis told the agent that he is into children ages zero and up, and has “[n]o limits,” according to the complaint. He said he previously had sexual experiences with a 9-month-old boy, a 6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy. He sent the agent an array of disturbing photos showing toddlers performing oral sex on adults and images of adults sexually abusing naked children as young as infants. 

He asked another undercover agent to take nude pictures and videos of the agent’s supposed 9-year-old daughter and the 2-year-old daughter of the agent’s girlfriend. Davis told the agent he had “hundreds” of images of child pornography in his “collection,” mostly “baby/toddler.”

Davis pressed the agent about meeting the 2-year-old girl. “When do u have that baby alone next,” Davis asked. “I mean even for a few mins enough to FaceTime.”

Through a search warrant, authorities later recovered a trove of child pornography on Davis’s cellphone. After his arrest, Davis admitted to having a sexual interest in infants and toddlers, keeping the child porn on his phone, and trying to set up meetings with the agents’ children, authorities said.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, in the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Davis’s alleged conduct “is as unfathomable as it is sickening.”

“Joel Davis started an organization devoted to stopping sexual violence, while allegedly engaged in the duplicitous behavior of sharing explicit images of infants engaged in sexual activity,” Berman said.

Indeed, Davis allegedly appeared to live a double life. He described himself a “human rights defender” and was frequently called upon as a reputable speaker on issues of sexual violence. In 2016, he appeared on an Al Jazeera English segment titled, “Rape as a weapon of war: The untold story of armed conflict.”

“Sexual violence intensifies and diversifies in conflict,” he said while speaking about countries like Syria and the Congo. “The challenge again is to see how we end sexual violence in areas of post conflict, and we know it’s not just armed groups perpetrating sexual violence.”

In a 2014 article in the HuffPost, Davis specifically wrote about young people victimized by sexual violence. “In so many conflicts across the globe, children’s bodies are quickly becoming sites of violence, where rape is used to terrorize and degrade entire communities,” he wrote.

After graduating from high school in Port Charlotte, Florida, Davis spent a gap year working at the United Nations, he claimed in a student newspaper article. He claimed to have attended American University in Washington before transferring to Columbia University, where he studied in the School of General Studies, according to the Columbia Spectator.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he also studied classical piano at the prestigious Juilliard School through an exchange program with Columbia.

The Post could not independently verify this and other claims. In 2015, he was one of more than 200 individuals and organizations nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to a Florida NBC affiliate that reported the news at the time. The source of that information, other than Davis, wasn’t clear from the article.

While anyone can be eligible for the prestigious award, only certain people can submit nominations, according to the Nobel Peace Prize’s website. These include members of national governments and international courts, university professors, former Nobel Peace Prize winners and members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. 

As a columnist for the Columbia student newspaper, Davis opened up about overcoming his own experiences with sexual assault.

“When news broke that I was being considered for a Nobel Prize, I had a psychological breakdown – tormented by the recollection of my childhood sex abuse – and withdrew from Columbia,” Davis wrote in the Columbia Spectator. “It was another year before I attended my first class.”

In another piece, Davis said he was working on an upcoming novel about the effects of trauma on a relationship. He planned to title it, “Benevolence.”

He even wrote about grappling with his PTSD through therapy sessions with a psychologist.

“She dubbed my behavior ‘extremely self-destructive’ and explained that I was putting myself in precarious situations to assert some sense of control,” Davis wrote of his psychologist. 

“Sometimes, when you feel like your life is falling apart, quickening the inevitable descent into pariahdom seems like the only thing left to do.”"

...........