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Friday, March 10, 2017

Comey warns there is no longer 'absolute privacy' in US



Maybe the title should have been:

Comey warns Trump there is no longer 'absolute privacy' in US

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FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that Americans should no longer have the expectations of complete privacy.

Comey, who was the keynote speaker at a cybersecurity conference at Boston College, said there is no longer “absolute privacy” in the U.S., Politico reported.

“Even our memories aren’t private," he said. "Any of us can be compelled to say what we saw. In appropriate circumstances, a judge can compel any of us to testify in court on those private communications. There is no place in America outside of judicial reach."

Comey’s comments came less than 24 hours after WikiLeaks released files from the CIA which appear to show that the agency has the ability to hack cars, TVs and smartphones.

Comey did not reference the wiretapping controversy during his speech to law enforcement officials and private-sector business leaders.

“All of us have a reasonable expectation of privacy in our homes, in our cars, and in our devices. But it also means with good reason, in court, government through law enforcement can invade our private spaces,” Comey said.

He said the FBI is renewing a focus on the challenges posed by encryption. He said there should be a balance between privacy and the FBI's ability to lawfully access information. He also said the FBI needs to recruit talented computer personnel who might otherwise go to work for Apple or Google.

"The cyber threats we face are enormous. I don't know if we can stay ahead of them. And I think to say otherwise would be hubris," Comey said.

Comey added that he plans to serve his entire 10-year term despite the wiretapping controversy.

"You're stuck with me for another 6 1/2 years," he said.







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ACLU files ethics complaint against Sessions with Alabama Bar Disciplinary Commission





Catherine HerridgePublished March 09, 2017




The ACLU has submitted an ethics complaint with the Alabama State Bar Disciplinary Commission against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, alleging the former senator violated the code of conduct during his confirmation hearing testimony.

Code of conduct? Where was the radical left ACLU when lard ass met Bill on the tarmac in Phoenix, AZ while his wife was under FBI investigation? Lynch blew the 'appearance of impropriety' out of the water!

This is total bullshit.


"Mr. Sessions is the Attorney General of the United States and violated Rule 8.4 of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct," according to the complaint filed Thursday by the ACLU's Chris Anders, deputy director at the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, where he represents the ACLU before Congress and the executive branch.

"Mr. Sessions made false statement during sworn testimony on January 10, 2017 and in a subsequent written response to questions January 17, 2017." Anders continued, "Rule 8.4 (c) of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct states that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to 'engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation."


On March 2, Sessions told reporters at the Justice Department that he will recuse himself from “any existing or future investigations” regarding the 2016 presidential campaign, responding to bipartisan pressure to step aside from a probe into Moscow meddling amid revelations he spoke twice with Russia’s ambassador and didn’t disclose it to Congress.

In a press conference, Sessions pushed back forcefully, however, on allegations he misled lawmakers. Though he testified during his confirmation hearing that he had no “communications” with Russia during the campaign, when he was a top surrogate for then-candidate Donald Trump, Sessions defended his answer as “honest and correct.”

“I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign,” he said.

Sessions said he did not intend to mislead anyone, suggesting he was referring in that hearing only to discussions about the campaign. Still, Sessions said he would write to the Senate Judiciary Committee to “explain this testimony for the record.”

"Jeff Sessions is an honest man," Trump said in a statement released later that day. "He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional. This whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win."

Earlier this week, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, accused Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., of asking a "gotcha question" after a heating exchange during a confirmation hearing for Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein to become deputy attorney general.

Franken had confronted Rosenstein over Sessions' two previously undisclosed meetings last year with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. when asked if he would prosecute any potential illicit contact between Trump's presidential campaign and Russian officials.

"I consider what Sen. Franken asked Sessions at that late moment, that that story had just come out, as a gotcha question," Grassley said. The Iowa senator then went on to say Franken had new information that Sessions was not aware of during his confirmation hearing.

When asked for comment about the complaint, the Department of Justice referred Fox News back to Sessions' letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 6, which served as a supplement to his testimony before the committee on January 10.

Anders told Fox News “few events are more corrosive to a democracy than having the future Attorney General make false statements under oath about a matter the Justice Department is investigating."

“No attorney, whether just starting out as a new lawyer or serving as the country’s top law enforcement officer, should lie under oath,” he added. “The Alabama bar must investigate this wrongfully and fairly.” 

How do you investigate it wrongfully and fairly at the same time?






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Thursday, March 9, 2017

Trump's tough talk regarding illegals is working




Illegal border crossings decrease by 40 percent in Trump's first month, report says



The number of people illegally crossing the U.S. southern border has dropped 40 percent in President Trump’s first full month in office, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Wednesday.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported that the number of illegal border crossings dropped from 31,578 to 18,762 persons. Kelly said border agents usually see a 10 to 20 percent increase in illegal immigrant apprehensions from January to February.

“The drop in apprehensions shows a marked change in trends,” Kelly said. “Since the administration’s implementation of executive orders to enforce immigration laws, apprehensions and inadmissible activity is trending toward the lowest monthly total in at least the last five years.”

The new numbers are welcoming news for Trump who campaigned on illegal immigration crackdown.

Trump signed an executive order increasing border security and authorizing the construction of his promised border wall along the southern border in the first few days of his presidency. Trump also seeks to hire about 5,000 additional border patrol officials and 10,000 ICE agents and seeks to fast-track deportations.

“We will remain vigilant to respond to any changes in these trends, as numbers of illegal crossings typically increase between March and May,” Kelly said. “However, the early results show that enforcement matters, deterrence matters, and that comprehensive immigration enforcement can make an impact.”






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This Land Is Their Land




Only in the liberal mind.



I wonder after a hard day of protesting a liberal goes home only to find an illegal laid back on their recliner, drinking an ice cold Corona watching Telemundo, and when the operator says '911' do they scream, “There’s an undocumented immigrant living in my home?” 

Or maybe they just ask for the remote and switch the channel to MSNBC?












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Wednesday, March 8, 2017

The crime scene




Report surfaces of Trump reception that included Kislyak


So this is how it's going down. Trump who has shaken hands with literally thousands of people during the campaign winds up at a VIP reception with probably hundreds of people there. Of course, he supposed to know the name and address of every person he "warmly greeted" that day. So he happens to bump into Kislyak and right in front of a sea of people he tells him, "You know, tell Vlad after the election I can be more flexible."  

You have to be a Democrat on an open mic to get that kind of inattention.

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The hype over possible contacts between President Trump's campaign and Russian officials went into overdrive Tuesday after liberal blogs seized on a months-old report describing an encounter between Trump and Moscow's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.

The May 13, 2016 report by the Wall Street Journal described how then-candidate Trump came across Kislyak at a VIP reception moments before Trump made a major foreign policy speech at Washington's Mayflower Hotel. The Journal said that Trump "warmly greeted" Kislyak and three other ambassadors who came to the reception.

The report was resurrected Tuesday by websites such as ThinkProgress and Daily Kos, which published stories implying Trump lied when he said last month that "nobody that I know of" on his campaign staff contacted Russian officials during the presidential race.

Revelations about conversations between Kislyak and top U.S. officials have already led to the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions from any investigation of the Trump campaign and its possible ties to Moscow.

However, Kislyak also has a long history of meeting with Democratic lawmakers. On one occasion in 2013, the envoy met with seven then-Democratic senators. Kislyak also reportedly visited the Obama White House at least 22 times.



You see Kislyak is Kryptonite but only to Republicans. 


A White House spokesperson denied that the encounter constituted a meeting and added that the campaign was not responsible for inviting or vetting guests
 at the speech.









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