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tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#291101: Sep 26th 2019 at 8:03:34 PM

And in non-impeachment news: a grand jury has indicted all of Warren County’s top government officials on charges of misfeasance as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of embezzlement and money laundering inside the local economic development authority, Virginia State Police announced Tuesday.

Former Warren Supervisor Ron Llewellyn, who was also indicted, said the charges stem from allegations that local officials did not react quickly enough to suspicions that Jennifer Mc Donald, a former director of the economic development authority, was embezzling $21 million in agency money.

Mc Donald has been charged with 28 felony counts in that investigation, which, among other things, alleges that she doctored invoices to steer money into bank accounts that she controlled in a scheme to enrich herself, her friends and her family.

“I don’t know how we could have acted any faster,” said Llewellyn, who served on the board of the economic authority when Mc Donald’s alleged crimes occurred.

Less than a week after an independent review of the agency’s books found suspected illegal activity by Mc Donald, the board moved to fire her last December, Llewellyn said. Mc Donald — who is also facing a civil lawsuit filed by the authority — resigned from her position before that happened; she was arrested in May. She is now among several people facing felony charges in the alleged schemes.

“I don’t know how we should have known earlier,” Llewellyn said. “The accountants are supposed to do their job. Am I supposed to go and ask them if I can review their books and their auditing positions? I’m not in a position where I would understand it if I saw it.”

Local activists, who have argued that Mc Donald couldn’t have pulled off her alleged crimes without help from inside the county government, said Tuesday’s indictment proves there is more to investigate.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#291102: Sep 26th 2019 at 8:50:41 PM

I'm reminded of when almost the entire City of Bell city council were arrested for similar crimes back in 2010.

Robrecht Your friendly neighbourhood Regent from The Netherlands Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Your friendly neighbourhood Regent
#291103: Sep 27th 2019 at 12:11:44 AM

[up][up] Weird, that link is blocked to me with the following message:

We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore access cannot be granted at this time.

Also, maybe I'm cynical, but I'm kinda leery of any news that has strong negative connotations with 'Warren' at this specific point in time, even if that's 'Warren county' rather than 'Elizabeth Warren'.

Because, let's face it, for a lot of people, simply seeing a headline on the order of 'Warren officials indicted for corruption' is enough for them to go 'Well, guess it was only a matter of time, not going to vote for her then.' without ever reading the article and getting the context.

Angry gets shit done.
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#291104: Sep 27th 2019 at 4:58:53 AM

Mark Yancey, chairman and CEO of hedge fund Attacca International, has announced he will be attempting to primary current Republican US Senator from Texas John Cornyn.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Hylarn (Don’t ask)
#291105: Sep 27th 2019 at 5:43:18 AM

Should either of those names mean anything to me?

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#291106: Sep 27th 2019 at 5:46:52 AM

Cornyn is your typical asshole Republican (but I repeat myself). Not sure about the other guy, but between his occupation and party of choice, I don't get good vibes.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
i'm tired, my friend
#291107: Sep 27th 2019 at 5:50:33 AM

I can't help but wonder if Trump trying to get Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election so openly may have been a Hoist by His Own Petard moment.

i'm tired, my friend
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#291108: Sep 27th 2019 at 5:55:40 AM

He's had so many at this point,but this one that brings him down?Colour me surprised,he had to be know it would get him impeached ,so why do something like this?

Its possible he knows the election is not going to be in his favour,and getting impeached means he can't be voted out

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#291109: Sep 27th 2019 at 6:02:10 AM

He got away with the Russians interfering and frankly he won that battle, the public and the media believed him.

Why would he think this time would be any different?

Oh really when?
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#291110: Sep 27th 2019 at 6:05:18 AM

This is not 4-D chess. This is Trump doing Trump. I said this months back and it's still true: after beating the Mueller Investigation, Trump's convinced that he's untouchable. In his eyes, his Presidency was finally legitimized, the House Democrats proved to be a paper tiger, and even the Supreme Court was in his favor. He's pretty sure that he's finally the absolute monarch he wanted to be.

What we saw of Trump in 2017 and 2018 was Trump trying to play nice. Failing, but trying. I predicted early this year that we were gonna see some shit now that it's been established that his position truly is above the law and that there are no true restrictions on what he can and cannot do as President. The House's refusal to take serious action gave him a license to go 100% Full Trump.

And that's exactly what he's been doing. Everything he was doing before, but now dialed up to 11 'cause there's no enforceable rules that say he can't. Trump feels invincible.

Nixon also thought he was invincible. Invincible people make mistakes.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#291111: Sep 27th 2019 at 6:14:36 AM

Nothing more vulnerable than a opponent who thinks they already won.

speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#291112: Sep 27th 2019 at 7:13:12 AM

Trump "joked" at a private event that he should stay past 2024 just to piss off the libs.

I know he will claim he's joking, and his supporters will say "he's so good at triggering you libs", but here's the thing: He's not joking. He wants to stay in office as long as he can to avoid being prosecuted, and also thinks it would be payback for the Democrats supposedly wasting his first term making up "phony" scandals to distract him. Besides, someone with the highest position of authority in the country should not be joking about circumventing the law.

Believe the autocrat.

Edited by speedyboris on Sep 27th 2019 at 7:25:15 AM

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#291113: Sep 27th 2019 at 7:39:02 AM

Trump doesn't want to stay in office forever to avoid being prosecuted.

Trump wants to stay in office forever so that he can be in office forever. He's been "making jokes" about this since 2017.

It's what all the cool authoritarians are doing.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 27th 2019 at 8:39:16 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#291114: Sep 27th 2019 at 7:42:50 AM

He wants to be King Trump. He probably plays make-believe with a Burger King crown.

Disgusted, but not surprised
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#291115: Sep 27th 2019 at 8:41:42 AM

So, according to the Blue Wave Reddit, via a Twitter user named Jim Sciutto, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) is saying that Trump has been using a codeword-protected private server for Official Phone Records, and that this should be investigated immediately. Note the R next to that Representatives name.

Guys, I think the Dam is about to Burst...

Edited by DingoWalley1 on Sep 27th 2019 at 11:47:18 AM

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#291116: Sep 27th 2019 at 8:49:13 AM

I mean, that's great and all but considering Trump's administration already been caught doing exactly what BUT HER EMAILS was claiming, any kind of server-related news isn't going to do anything in of itself.

Though I agree, the Republican actually saying "hey... look into it" could be a canary.

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#291117: Sep 27th 2019 at 9:02:37 AM

The use of “codeword protected” is a little confusing here. Is that just a fancy way of saying password, or is it a reference to codeword clearance? Neither of those would automatically suggest wrongdoing.

They should have sent a poet.
Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#291118: Sep 27th 2019 at 9:21:02 AM

I know the thread has kind of moved on, but I had some thoughts RE that discussion of Soros.

So, not to be the "speaker for the Jews" (that's Jared Kushner), but I think besides laziness of conspiracy theorists, Soros makes for a particularly "good" anti-Semitic bogeyman for a couple reasons.

One is that in his role as a wealthy and mysterious ("shadowy") businessman who supports left-wing causes, he nicely works as a hate figure for both left wing and right wing anti-Semites. And it kind of hearkens back to how the Nazis would sort of adopt the facade of left-wing rhetoric by railing against corrupt, invariably Jewish businessmen, but then either implicitly or explicitly celebrated "Aryan" businessmen, reflecting their actual right-wing positions.

Additionally, his backstory in escaping the Holocaust makes for anti-Semitic fodder for a couple of reasons. It's hard to think of a "better" exemplar of a Greedy Jew than one who (supposedly) was so greedy and corrupt that they collaborated with the Nazis (there's a similar idea with the term/slur "kapo", which unfortunately is also used by some Jews). But I think there's also an aspect of anti-semites being avowedly anti-Nazi (since everyone hates or at least is supposed to hate Nazis), but still being anti-semitic, with the added bonus of trolling Jews by accusing them of being Nazis.

So in Soros' case, people have this fabricated story of him as a collaborator, and will claim that by being anti-Soros, they are being anti-Nazi. And more broadly, you can find the same kind of idea in (for instance) people saying that the Nazis were Socialists or Zionists.

Tl; dr, the more I think about it, the more I see how ugly the use of Soros as a hate figure is.

Edited by Hodor2 on Sep 27th 2019 at 11:21:41 AM

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#291119: Sep 27th 2019 at 9:26:57 AM

It’s a reference to the security classification around the server.

So the server should hold things like the identity of spies the US has placed in foreign government, or the detailed plans for nuclear missile designs.

Instead it’s holding recording of Trump saying things that would hurt him politically if they got out.

It’s the digital recording equivalent of Trump using Fort Knox to store his sex tape or the recite from him paying off Storm Daniels.

Edited by Silasw on Sep 27th 2019 at 4:28:52 PM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#291120: Sep 27th 2019 at 9:42:55 AM

Using a compartmentalized access server for presidential records isn’t illegal, or even that unusual.

Code words aren’t a level above Top Secret, they’re just used to limit access to information. There are code words at all levels of classification. Most classified White House documents are compartmentalized to limit them to WH staff and other need to know individuals.

Edited by archonspeaks on Sep 27th 2019 at 9:44:01 AM

They should have sent a poet.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#291121: Sep 27th 2019 at 10:13:40 AM

The conversations won’t be top secret, they’re conversations with a foreign government, normally that would make them unclassified but still not to be released to the public.

What’s being alleged is that the conversations were being stored somewhere they shouldn’t be stored. It seems likely that that was done via them being put at a higher classification level than is appropriate for a diplomatic conversation.

Or it’s that they’re on the wrong system, so instead of being put on the server for conversations with foreign leaders, they were put on the server for submarine schematics, so as to block any attempt by an oversight entity to get the recording.

Edited by Silasw on Sep 27th 2019 at 5:15:58 PM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#291122: Sep 27th 2019 at 10:33:07 AM

Like I said, it’s not unusual for documents of that nature to be compartmentalized. Simply saying they’re stored on a compartmentalized server doesn’t really mean anything, it’s like saying it’s stored in a color coded folder. There needs to be proof it’s stored somewhere it’s not meant to be.

I’ll also point out that hiding away politically-sensitive information isn’t necessarily illegal either. The issue here would be obstruction of lawful access to the information, or misuse of resources. If it was hidden on a codeword server for politically sensitive information that’s kind of scummy but not really a scandal.

Edited by archonspeaks on Sep 27th 2019 at 10:38:20 AM

They should have sent a poet.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#291123: Sep 27th 2019 at 10:41:50 AM

It’s not unusual for them to be stored where not anyone can get them, but that’s not what’s being alleged, what’s being alleged day the whistleblower is that the records were subject to extra additional security measures beyond the norm for such a call.

I don’t know the exact storage system for US diplomatic cables, but I suspect that communications between the president and a foreign head of state normally have their records stored with a couple difference agencies and the White House itself, at a pretty basic level of classification, my take on this is that the call records were instead stored somewhere else and effectively removed from their normal storage space.

So all sorts of people should be able to access such a call record, CIA folks working on the Ukraine desk trying to ascertain things about the Ukrainian President, State Department staff working on relations with Ukraine generally, Justice Department people who work on cross-nation criminal investigations, ect...

They should all have access to the call records, the records shouldn’t be in the White House basement on a top secret servers that only White House staff have access to.

I’ll also point out that hiding away politically-sensitive information isn’t necessarily illegal either.

Yes it is, it abuse of government resources for personal political gain, it’s a direct violation of the Hatch Act if nothing else.

Using government servers (which are run using taxpayer money) to hide your political secrets is an abuse of power.

If it was hidden on a codeword server for politically sensitive information that’s kind of scummy but not really a scandal.

The mere existence of such a server would be a serious crime, it’s a violation of the Hatch Act to use government resources to campaign for a political candidate.

“It makes the president look bad” is not a legitimate reason to classify something.

Edited by Silasw on Sep 27th 2019 at 5:47:07 PM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#291124: Sep 27th 2019 at 11:02:14 AM

[up] Any document is classified by its content. It’s not a “matching servers” type situation though. A code word isn’t a clearance level, it’s a permitted group. For example, a code word server for White House staff might have documents from every clearance level. You can hold an unlimited number of code words at once, so there’s a lot of overlap here.

And I think it would be a little hard to sell that as a violation of the Hatch Act. Politically damaging and serving a direct electoral purpose aren’t the same thing. Hiding things that make the government or president look bad is certainly something that has precedent.

Again, if resources were directly misused (such as your example of storing transcripts in a submarine schematic server) or if legal attempts to access that information were blocked then there would be a problem.

Edited by archonspeaks on Sep 27th 2019 at 11:05:35 AM

They should have sent a poet.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#291125: Sep 27th 2019 at 11:07:49 AM

"Code words aren’t a level above Top Secret, they’re just used to limit access to information."

According to the WSJ, the code word protected server in question is for matters more sensitive than Top Secret.


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