BIG! – NSA Recommends Dropping Phone Surveillance Program….


Perhaps the weaponization of the NSA database was the biggest research project we ever took on.  That said, CTH prudence requires a lack of commentary.  For a background on this story see the [“SIDE NOTE“] previously presented HERE.  “The candle is not worth the flame.”

(WASHINGTON DC) The National Security Agency has recommended that the White House abandon a U.S. surveillance program that collects information about Americans’ phone calls and text messages, saying the logistical and legal burdens of keeping it outweigh its intelligence benefits, according to people familiar with the matter.

The recommendation against seeking the renewal of the once-secret spying program amounts to an about-face by the agency, which had long argued in public and to congressional overseers that the program was vital to the task of finding and disrupting terrorism plots against the U.S.

The latest view is rooted in a growing belief among senior intelligence officials that the spying program provides limited value to national security and has become a logistical headache.

Frustrations about legal-compliance issues forced the NSA to halt use of the program earlier this year, the people said. Its legal authority will expire in December unless Congress reauthorizes it.  (read more)

…”It is up to the White House, not the NSA, to decide whether to push for legislation to renew the phone-records program. The White House hasn’t yet reached a policy decision about the surveillance program, according to the people familiar with the matter.

The White House National Security Council and the NSA declined to comment.”…

[…] In remarks over the past month, Gen. Paul Nakasone, the director of the NSA and chief of U.S. Cyber Command, has declined to offer specifics about the status of conversations about the metadata program, but he has acknowledged officials are reviewing whether it is necessary.

“It’s a collaborative process, and the administration will make the decision,” Mr. Nakasone said this month at a Marshall Forum event in Washington. “We are taking a look at it, what is the value of it, what are we able to get from it…I think the question becomes, is this a tool that we continue to need to have for our nation’s security?” (link)

May God continue to bless Admiral Mike Rogers…

Do not go about your day without contemplating the scale of this decision; and more importantly the ideological shift on the freedom continuum.  97% of our nation will have no comprehension of the importance of this story.

One of the hurdles in revealing the scale of the story behind the abused FISA process are the current interests of the intelligence community.  Those who benefited from the abuse of the system have used “national security interests” as a shield to avoid revealing the history of Obama-era political surveillance and spying.

However, if the intelligence apparatus says they no longer want/need the surveillance system; that is, the specific aspect used for prior abuse; well, the shield is removed;… and, as a consequence, the history of how the NSA database was abused for political spy operation can then be revealed.

Love to all.

Wolverines !!

Former State Department Employee Pleads Guilty to Spying for Chinese Agents…


[U.S. DOJ] […] Candace Marie Claiborne, a former employee of the U.S. Department of State, pleaded guilty today to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, by lying to law enforcement and background investigators, and hiding her extensive contacts with, and gifts from, agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in exchange for providing them with internal documents from the U.S. State Department.

[…] According to the plea documents, Claiborne, 63, began working as an Office Management Specialist for the Department of State in 1999. She served overseas at a number of posts, including embassies and consulates in Baghdad, Iraq, Khartoum, Sudan, and Beijing and Shanghai, China. As a condition of her employment, Claiborne maintained a TOP SECRET security clearance. Claiborne also was required to report any contacts with persons suspected of affiliation with a foreign intelligence agency as well as any gifts she received from foreign sources over a certain amount.

Despite such a requirement, Claiborne failed to report repeated contacts with two agents of the People’s Republic of China Intelligence Service, even though these agents provided tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and benefits to Claiborne and her family over five years.

The gifts and benefits included cash wired to Claiborne’s USAA account, Chinese New Year’s gifts, international travel and vacations, tuition at a Chinese fashion school, a fully furnished apartment, a monthly stipend and numerous cash payments. Some of these gifts and benefits were provided directly to Claiborne, while others were provided to a close family member of Claiborne’s.

In exchange for these gifts and benefits, as stated in the plea documents, Claiborne provided copies of internal documents from the State Department on topics ranging from U.S. economic strategies to visits by dignitaries between the two countries.

Claiborne noted in her journal that she could “Generate 20k in 1 year” working with one of the PRC agents. That same agent at one point tasked her with providing internal U.S. Government analyses on a U.S.-Sino Strategic Economic Dialogue that had just concluded.

Claiborne, who confided to a co-conspirator that the PRC agents were “spies,” willfully misled State Department background investigators and FBI investigators about her contacts with those agents, the plea documents state. After the State Department and FBI investigators contacted her, Claiborne also instructed her co-conspirators to delete evidence connecting her to the PRC agents. She was arrested on March 28, 2017, following a law enforcement investigation.

Judge Moss scheduled sentencing for July 9, 2019. Claiborne, of Washington, D.C., was ordered detained pending sentencing, but will self-surrender for said detention on June 5, 2019. (DOJ Link)

Link to Plea Agreement.

Original Criminal Complaint Below:

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Julian Assange – Governments Against the People?


Vietnam Veterans Against McCain


Published on Jan 18, 2008

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http://www.McCainBetraysPOWs.org, http://www.MissingPresumedDead.com The group Vietnam Veterans Against McCain attacks Senator John McCain’s heroism as a POW in the Vietnam conflict; this is making some waves in the news due to McCain’s presidential candidacy. The documentary “Missing, Presumed Dead the Search for America’s POWs” however focuses more on Senator John McCain successfully blocking the release of classified POW/MIA documents. Here is a DVD extra from that documentary. A DVD of the documentary may be purchased at http://www.MissingPresumedDead.com

Creepy Porn Lawyer Indicted on 36 More Federal Charges of Tax Evasion, Bank Fraud, Perjury and Theft From Clients…


Wow, CPL is having a very bad day. [Details Here] The scale of the new grand jury indictments against Avenatti for his alleged criminal behavior is clear; if convicted on all counts he could spend 335 years in prison.

Attorney Michael Avenatti has been charged in a 36-count federal indictment alleging he stole millions of dollars from clients, did not pay his taxes, committed bank fraud and lied in bankruptcy proceedings.

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Devin Nunes Announces Eight Criminal Referrals for Submission Next Week….


House intelligence committee ranking member Devin Nunes appears on Fox New with Maria Bartiromo to outline the current status of his investigative releases.

According to the interview Representative Nunes will be submitting eight criminal referrals to the Dept. of Justice next week.   Five of those referrals are for specific people who participated in the political scheme against candidate, president-elect and President Trump.  The remaining three referrals are not person specific, but rather outlines of “conspiracy”:

  • One referral is the conspiracy to intentionally falsifying material to the FISA Court in order to gain a Title-One FISA warrant against U.S. person Carter Page; and by extension the political campaign of Donald Trump.
  • A second conspiracy referral targets the intentional manipulation of intelligence information; and a conspiracy to weaponize the intelligence apparatus against a political party and presidential candidate, Donald Trump.
  • The third conspiracy referral is less specific and pertains to evidence collected that shows a small group of government officials engaged in “global classified intelligence leaks” to the U.S. media and other entities and/or persons.

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While we do not know the five individuals referenced, it is possible to overlay the three conspiracy referrals against other investigations.

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz is already looking into all of the aspects surrounding the DOJ and FBI submission to the FISA court. So, we can reasonably predict AG William Barr will wait to see the outcome of the DOJ-OIG report before taking both files (Nunes and Horowitz) and reviewing.

On the conspiracy to manipulate the intelligence apparatus. That angle will be interesting to watch because it goes to the origin of activity in early 2016. The issues around how Crossfire Hurricane was officially started… and, more importantly, the earlier use of intelligence assets: Joseph Mifsud (Maltese Professor, FBI/CIA asset), Alexander Downer (Australian Diplomat), Stephan Halper (U.K. Academic and FBI/CIA asset), or Charles Tawil (Israeli CIA asset) to make contact with George Papadopoulos, Mike Flynn or Carter Page. Those contacts were covert and (un)official government missions for the weaponized U.S. intelligence apparatus.  This is where John Brennan is center-stage.

The last referral relating to specific leaks of classified intelligence – sounds like Nunes is submitting a classified list of only a few people who had access to the direct intelligence product that was leaked.  Unfortunately, the ordinary Main Justic approach toward this type of an investigation would be through the DOJ-NSD and FBI Counterintelligence divisions; however, those two intelligence agencies were likely the source of the leaks and the career staff within those sub-agencies are exactly the same as they were when the seditious conspiracy was carried out.   That dynamic presents a challenge on a myriad of levels.

One of the impossible to answer issues surrounds Mueller and Rosenstein controlling the evidence, via the Mueller ‘small group’ (19 lawyers, 40 FBI agents, and a host of support staff) investigation in the past two years.  No-one knows whether Michael Horowitz was actually given access to direct evidence, I doubt he was; and no-one knows if that direct evidence was shaped, modified or altered prior to his review, I think it likely was.

If Mueller and Rosenstein plus 19 lawyers, 40 FBI agents and additional staff and career officials, have engaged in this operation for the past three years (they have), what is the likelihood this crew would expose themselves to jeopardy with an expose’ of evidence -against their interests- made available to the inspector general?   Methinks the probability is very low.

I fear we are going to get an IG report, yes, even on FISA submissions, that shows “customary department standards, rules, processes and procedures were not being followed” etc. etc. etc.

At which time those who engaged in the corruption will deploy the Susan Rice letter….

…”we were in uncharted territory, and customary departmental rules, processes and procedures were not equipped to deal with a political campaign, president-elect and incoming President/Administration who were likely under the control of the Russian government”… “we couldn’t take the chance of being wrong”…. “we had to act as if that possibility was true”….  “so we tried to keep everything by the book, yet we needed to be mindful of the White House as an adversarial entity”…

Into this narrative Nadler, Schiff, Cummings and Pelosi will say: “my God, those poor intelligence officials and what they suffered through to protect our country.  If President Trump had not violated every rule of ethical political conduct, the intelligence apparatus would not have been under such pressure.  It’s Trump’s fault….. impeach!!”

… or something like that.

The media will do the rest.

♦ Prove the July 31st, 2016, Crossfire Hurricane operation originated from fraud by exposing the CIA operation that created the originating “Electronic Communication” memo.  Declassify that two-page “EC” document that Brennan gave to Comey.

♦ Reveal the November 2015 through April 2016 FISA-702 search query abuse by declassifying the April 2017 court opinion written by FISC Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer.  Show the FBI contractors behind the 85% fraudulent search queries. [Crowdstrike? Fusion-GPS? Nellie Ohr?]

♦ Subpoena former DOJ-NSD (National Security Division) head John Carlin, or haul him in front of a grand jury, and get his testimony about why he hid the abuse from the FISA court in October 2016; why the DOJ-NSD rushed the Carter Page application to beat NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers to the FISA court; and why Carlin quit immediately thereafter. Squeeze this bastard’s nuts in the proverbial legal vise.

♦ Prove the Carter Page FISA application (October 2016) was fraudulent and based on deceptions to the FISA Court.  Declassify the entire document, and release the transcripts of those who signed the application(s); and/or depose those who have not yet testified.

♦ Release all of the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages without redactions.  Let sunlight pour in on the actual conversation(s) that were taking place when Crossfire Hurricane (July ’16) and the FISA Application (Oct ’16) were taking place.

♦ Release all of Bruce Ohr 302’s, FBI notes from interviews and debriefing sessions, and other relevant documents associated with the interviews of Bruce Ohr and his internal communications. Including exculpatory evidence that Bruce Ohr may have shared with FBI Agent Joseph Pientka.  [And get a deposition from this Pientka fella]

IMPORTANT *** Please Send this PDF to Congress, Denate & Trump to Save a Life *** IMPORTANT


It is time that We the People demand reform in the Judicial System. Enough is enough. Former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been thrown into Solitary Confinement to break her no different than any third world country would do to torture a person. Just because judges claim to have this self-anointed power, does not make it comport with the Constitution or basic human rights. I am asking that EVERYONE reading this send it to EVERY politician in EVERY country to put political pressure on the United States both from within and internationally. This practice of contempt is a disgrace and it proves that the United States has ABSOLUTELY no basis to criticize any country for violating human rights when our own judges do not respect such principles.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Contempt Federal Judge Orders the Torture of Chelsea Manning – U.S. Violates Human Rights _ Armstrong Economics

Print & Mail

Why is this so important to take a few minutes to forward this PDF to every politician worldwide? Besides saving the life of someone you do not know, Chelsea Manning, there is also a lot more at stake. Under French law, nobody in a family can be compelled to testify against another. It is not limited to just your wife or a priest as in the United States. Not even a brother-in-law can be forced to testify against someone in a family to which they are not even blood-related.

In the United States, they can throw you in contempt for refusing to testify against your children or your children can be thrown in contempt for refusing to testify against a parent or a brother or sister. The ONLY privilege recognized by US courts is that of your wide or clergy. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized the continued vitality of several privileges based on confidential relationships, such as the attorney-client privilege, the spousal privilege, as well as the more recently recognized psychotherapist-patient privilege, under Rule 501. In Jaffee v. United States, the court noted that such privileges are “rooted in the imperative need for confidence and trust.”

It is time we DEMAND that the family comes before the state and as such, no member of a family should ever be thrown in prison for refusing to testify against ANY other member.

Please – for all our sakes; for this PDF to every politician, you can think of.

Copy & Paste this Link

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/rule-of-law/federal-judge-orders-the-torture-of-chelsea-manning/embed/#?secret=CeViRQmKSv

Five Myths About John McCain


Published on Apr 16, 2010

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Tim Dickinson discusses the top 5 myths about John McCain. LINK TO ROLLINGSTONE.COM: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/…

Federal Judge Orders the Torture of Chelsea Manning – U.S. Violates Human Rights


 

One of the most ruthless and unconstitutional powers federal judges have is to throw people into contempt until they break. The press NEVER reports the truth about the US legal system; they ALWAYS defend the government no matter what. They love to throw you into solitary confinement where the vast majority of prisoners commit suicide. It takes a strong mind and an even stronger will to stand up to judges who have not a shred of humanity in their souls if they even have one still remaining. In my case, Judge Richard Owen kept joking about a Steven Schiffer who never appealed what he did to him, saying he was never over-ruled. When he kept making jokes about this fellow, I asked my lawyer, “Who was Schiffer?” They said you don’t want to know. I said, “Tell me!” Judge Owen took all his lawyers away, mentally tortured Schiffer, and he committed suicide. This judge thought it was funny.

Former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning is jailed also on pretend powers of contempt that are against every principle of liberty ever dreamed of by the Founding Fathers of the American Constitution. Courts have usurped this power of contempt under the theory that English judges had that power in common law. It is totally inconsistent with the fact that we had a revolution against such tyranny. Insult a judge and you go to jail. You must address him as “your honor,” pretending he is honorable when he does not even respect human rights.

US district judge Claude M. Hilton threw Chelsea Manning into solitary confinement, which is TORTURE, for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. Chelsea Manning was thrown into a dark cell of solitary confinement where they can make the conditions so hot that wearing even underwear is too much, or so cold that you can see your breath. Judges always rule in their own self-interest of power that this is not torture like waterboarding. If they do not leave a mark on your body, they conveniently claim this is not torturing a person. Any normal person would consider torture to be (1) the action or practice of inflicting severe pain, mental or bodily, on someone as a punishment, (2) to force them to do or say something, or (3) for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain. Webster’s dictionary defines torture as:

 

Judge Hilton threw Chelsea Manning in contempt of court and ordered her jailed, yet she confirmed she has no intention of testifying based upon her political beliefs that should be protected by the First Amendment. She told the judge she “will accept whatever you bring upon me.”

Manning has refused to testify because she objects to the secrecy of the grand jury process, and already revealed everything she knows at her court-martial. Nevertheless, this judge said she will remain jailed in his torture chamber of horrors until she testifies or until the grand jury concludes its work, which could be years.

Manning turned over a vast trove of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks and it shows how the government violated the fundamental law of humanity and constantly lies to the people. WikiLeaks made those documents that exposed illegal activities public back in 2010. Chelsea served seven years of a 35-year military sentence and was freed after former President Barack Obama commuted her sentence. I have to admit that perhaps the only thing I find agreement with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the fact that she is calling for the release of whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who has been in solitary confinement for 26 days after refusing to testify before a grand jury. She has stated the Manning’s current imprisonment was “torture,” and that the former Army intelligence analyst should be released on bail.

The point of this whole exercise is the judge can simply claim he does not believe you. You are notentitled to a trial by jury because they also claim they are not “punishing” you for a crime, they are “coercing” you and therefore since they do not call it a “crime” you have no constitutional rights to a trial by jury. They can keep you there until you die under the pretense it is coercion and not punishment.

In my case, not only did the court refuse to give me a list of what I was to turn over, but the judge put me in prison to stop the trial. After 20 years, part of the nearly $3 million in coins I could not find was bought by a dealer in Philadelphia for $6,000 cash. That dealer then stuck them in a safe deposit box and tried to sell them with the help of an auction house in Texas. Under the law of contempt, the person is supposed to refuse to do something. When I asked for a list of what it was I was supposed to do, they said they would take photos of what they had and I could tell them what was missing to regain my own freedom.

Of course, the court never provided any photographs. My case illustrates just how contempt powers can be abused for political purposes. I was never provided any specific order on January 14th, 2000, they never said, “Do this and you will be released.” It is not whether Chelsea Manning even has anything. She objects to the secrecy of the entire proceeding and could be thrown in prison until she dies. And this is a country that criticizes China for human rights violations?

In my case, there was never a trial or even a discussion of who owned any property. The receiver was simply given “custody,” and there was never a trial. I probably would have died in contempt of court had I not petitioned the Supreme Court. After 20 years, the nonsense over the coins for which I was held in contempt were sold for $6,000 cash by some worker to a Philadelphia dealer. This entire affair proves my contempt was bogus to turnover something they refused to define and which I believed had been stolen to begin with.

The government is NOT the sovereign of this nation — we are.  Therefore, any whistleblower is NOT committing treason since we are the sovereign, not the government. Indeed, people like Manning and Snowden are seeking to expose that the government is acting illegally AGAINST the true sovereign which is none other than we the people. This distinction has been stated by the Supreme Court very plainly stated in LEGAL TENDER CASES, 110 U.S. 421 (1884) (also referred to as Julliard v Greenman):

“… there is no such thing as a power of inherent sovereignty in the government of the United States. It is a government of delegated powers, supreme within its prescribed sphere, but powerless outside of it. In this country, sovereignty resides in the people, and Congress can exercise no power which they have not, by their constitution, entrusted to it; all else is withheld.”

The people pursuing Manning and Snowden are the real traitors to the people trying to protect the illegal actions of the government. We really should DEMAND that the power of contempt be eliminated from US law once and for all. It is an easy way to imprison people for political purposes. In my case, the bankers wanted Princeton shutdown because they argued we had more influence and they would lose money in their manipulations because we would expose them. When someone else stepped up and offered to rent Princeton to keep the forecasting going, the court refused. They demanded I turn over the source code to Socrates(1)ALL the statements made in the movie “The Forecaster” could not be made unless they were proven with documentation to satisfy Lloyds of London to provide insurance against slander.

I am asking everyone with a pen to write to Congress and Trump demanding Chelsea Manning be released and contempt powers be repealed by Congress. Judges should NOT have such a power that circumvents all human rights under the pretense of discretion. Now that Trump has gotten a taste of how corrupt the legal system is, perhaps he is ready to defend the Constitution and human rights against such outright abuse.


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UPDATE: Waco “Twin Peaks” Shootout – All Charges Dropped, Not a Single Successful Prosecution…


Here’s an update to a story we covered in detail for quite a while.  [All Rsearch Backstory Threads Available Here] After four years of seriously sketchy prosecutorial conduct, likely trying to cover up the number of people killed by police and SWAT units as they shot into the crowd, the McLennen county district attorney has dropped all charges against the bikers involved in the Waco “Twin Peaks” brawl.

That means the old DA and the new DA were not able to achieve a single successful prosecution of any of the 177 bike club members, after the entire group was originally rounded up and locked in jail on $1 million bonds.

This thing was FUBAR from the beginning with nine bikers killed, twenty more shot and injured, and the police trying to say they only fired 12 rounds.  Transparent nonsense made even worse when the police refused to allow the CCTV video to be released or used by the defense teams of those arrested. Total nonsense. Initially CTH graphed out hundreds of shell casings and it was clear the heavily armed police just opened fire into the crowd from three positions.  Some victims were shot while they were cowered in corners.

TEXAS – Almost four years after nine bikers were killed and 20 were injured during a shootout at the former Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson said Tuesday he will dismiss all criminal cases against the remaining 24 defendants charged in the midday brawl.

Johnson’s decision Tuesday means that no one will be held accountable for the multiple deaths or injuries or for the chaotic battle between heavily armed, rival motorcycle clubs waged in a crowded shopping center parking lot while families were on their way to lunch after Sunday church.

In announcing his decision, Johnson said it is time to “end this nightmare that we have been dealing with in this county since May 17, 2015.”

“There were nine people who were killed on that fateful day in Waco, Texas, and 20 injured, all of whom were members of rival motorcycle clubs/gangs, and the loss of life is a difficult thing,” Johnson said. “But after looking over the 24 cases we were left with, it is my opinion as your district attorney that we are not able to prosecute any of those cases and reach our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”  (read more)