Obama in Berlin: 'We can't hide behind a wall'

But you can behind a red line!

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Rebecca Savransky 05/25/17 08:07 AM EDT

Former President Obama on Thursday encouraged people not to "hide behind a wall," making an oblique dig at President Trump during a talk in Berlin.

"In this new world we live in, we can’t isolate ourselves," Obama said while on stage with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a forum in Berlin, according to the Associated Press.

"We can’t hide behind a wall."

Trump's signature campaign promise was to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the fight against illegal immigration.

During the event, which marked the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Obama told the audience that "we have to push back against those trends that would violate human rights or suppress democracy or restrict individual freedoms."

He also issued a warning about people who are always certain about their opinions, another apparent criticism of Trump.

"If I become so convinced that I’m always right,” Obama said, “the logical conclusion of that often ends up being great cruelty and great violence.”

The former president offered praise for Merkel, calling the German leader one of his "favorite partners" in his presidency and someone who had done "outstanding work."

Despite tensions that emerged after revelations in 2013 that the National Security Agency had tapped Merkel's and other German officials' phone lines, the American and German leaders were seen as having a cooperative relationship. During a trip to Germany in November, Obama called Merkel his "closest ally."

Trump met Merkel for the first time at the White House earlier this year. He has frequently been critical of the German leader for what he called open-border policies and Germany's willingness to offer asylum for refugees.

Obama in Berlin: 'We can't hide behind a wall'

Trump lawyer in Russia probes has Russian ties of his own

The hidden headline:

At CNN... You Can Never Win

Conflict of interest? Ever see CNN report (Barry's right-hand man) Ben Rhodes' brother is the president of CBS news? 

If this was Dershowitz the Russian connection would have been his great-great-great-grandfather arrived here in 1739. 

These bastards could investigate and find a needle in a haystack. 

Unless if course, that needle, was college transcripts. Then they wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. 

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(CNN)The prominent New York lawyer expected to represent President Donald Trump in the widening Russia probes has professional connections of his own to Moscow, which could create yet another public-relations problem for the White House. 

Marc Kasowitz, who has been Trump's go-to lawyer for years on both personal and business matters, is defending a Russian bank, OJSC Sberbank, in an ongoing lawsuit in US court. He also represents a company controlled by a Russian billionaire, Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to the Kremlin.

Kasowitz' clients with Russian ties may not pose any legal conflicts of interests as he prepares to help Trump navigate an investigation that the president calls "a witch hunt." But the optics of the situation -- a lawyer with Russian-linked clients representing a president, whose campaign is being investigated for alleged collusion with Russia -- could make a messy situation for Trump even messier.

Larry Noble, general counsel for the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center, said Kasowitz' client list could potentially raise questions for the White House.

"Could there be some line of communication between these clients and the White House? Is there any situation where the interests of one conflicts with the other? These are the questions that come up," Noble said in an interview. 

Josh Galper, a crisis management attorney and co-founder of the firm Trident DMG, said if Kasowitz is hired, as expected, his clients with Russian ties could become another unnecessary distraction for the White House.

"The first rule of crisis management is not to create another crisis for yourself through the people that are representing you," Galper said. "When you're in an environment like the White House, you have to apply judgment to problems of appearance." 

Trump's expected decision to hire Kasowitz comes the week after the Justice Department appointed a special counsel to oversee the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Congressional committees are also investigating Russia's role.

Court documents show Kasowitz represents OJSC Sberbank, one of the country's largest banks.

A 2016 lawsuit accuses OJSC Sberbank of conspiring with granite-mining company executives in an "illegal scheme to... dismantle" a competitor and seize its assets. An attorney for some of the other defendants told CNN the allegations are unfounded.

Other defendants in the case include former Russian officials, such as the former minister of economy and trade, though Kasowitz is only listed as representing the bank in the case. The case is still pending.

Kasowitz is also listed in a federal lawsuit as an attorney for Veleron Holding BV, an investment company controlled by Deripaska. 

Deripaska has served as a representative of Russia on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council and was photographed with Putin at one of the council's meetings in 2006. 

Kasowitz serves as an attorney for Veleron in a federal lawsuit under appeal involving Morgan Stanley.

In 2012, Veleron accused Morgan Stanley of insider trading on a deal that involved a separate bank financing Veleron's investment in a Canadian auto parts manufacturer. 

In 2015, a jury ruled for Morgan Stanley, but Veleron has appealed the case -- with Kasowitz listed as an attorney.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Kasowitz' Russian clients.

Kasowitz could not be reached for comment on his representation of OJSC Sberbank of Russia. A spokesperson for his firm previously told CNN that Kasowitz only represents the Veleron firm, and not Deripaska personally. .

"Our representation of Veleron did not emanate from and has nothing to do with our representation of any Trump personnel or entities, and we have never relayed information or facilitated communication between Mr. Deripaska and his representatives and President Trump and his representatives," the spokesperson said in the prior statement to CNN.

Deripaska, who owns the Russian industrial group Basic Element, also has connections to Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who worked for Derispaka as a consultant.

In 2008, Deripaska invested about $19 million in a business venture launched by Manafort and other partners. The partnership invested in a Ukrainian telecommunications company - Black Sea Cable- but the deal failed.

Deripaska's subsequent legal claims against Manafort's business venture appear to have been dropped.

"Mr. Manafort believes the matter is dormant and will not be pursued further," a spokesperson for Manafort previously told CNN. 

In a statement published in US newspapers in March, Deripaska said he would take part in any related hearings before Congress. 

Putin, asked about the possibility of Deripaska testifying at a US congressional hearing, said he was not against it.

"That's his right. Let him do it," Putin said in March during a panel in the Russian city of Archangel.

Kasowitz has defended Trump in many legal matters over the years. He represented him in the suit filed by the New York Attorney General against Trump University and in a 2006 case filed against a journalist who wrote a book about Trump.

Kasowitz also sent letters on behalf of Trump threatening legal action during his presidential campaign. An October 2016 letter signed by Kasowitz demanded that the New York Times retract a story about two women who said that Trump had touched them inappropriately.

Trump lawyer in Russia probes has Russian ties of his own

Honestly...what good is Islam?

Why can't Muslims, Christians, and Jews live together and worship in peace?

Reason: Islam

The religion of death.

Have you ever seen a Muslim hospital? Me either. Click [Muslims hospitals in America on Bing]. There are none. Have you ever heard of a Muslim orchestra? A Muslim marching band? Have you ever heard of a Muslim charity? Why? They have no allegiance, no loyalty, for any country in which they live. They will never, repeat NEVER, assimilate into our society. It's the equivalent of inviting the Japs and Nazis to our shores during WWII! To think otherwise is pure insanity. Are we ever going to learn??? Have you ever seen a Muslim do anything that contributes to America in a positive way? Yet these bastards "Are the fabric of American" according to Barry?

The latest atrocity? Manchester England... 22 young kids dead.. one was an 8 years old.!

 What God-For-Saken fucking religion subscribes to this barbarity?

I'll tell you.. the savagery.. they call Islam.

I have a solution although it probably would never work because the world has become 'comfortable' with Muslim terrorists, protecting them mindlessly under the guise of political correctness. 

How ironic is this?
⬇︎

 Ban/contain all Muslims to the Middle East. Sooner or later they will kill each other off. Make it our decision who dies, not theirs, and allow the religion of death to destroy itself from within. This is not a far-fetched idea. If you check the fact sheet Muslims have killed more Muslims than anybody else.

Honestly...what good is Islam?

Dems are being blackmailed

On a tip from Ed Kilbane

Anyone remember the Awan brothers?

Read about this several months ago.  The Awan brothers were hired by the Dems as IT people and allowed access to sensitive information. That was until they were fired by House Democrats for stealing IT equipment and, possibly, hacking the system. This was several months ago and I couldn't help thinking...How could these dumbasses allow Pakistani Muslims (a country brimming in terrorism) access to sensitive information? Then it became yesterday's news and went off the radar. 

Now it has reappeared in a whole new light. The complete story below is eye-popping especially this:

"The investigation goes far beyond the theft of millions of dollars. The employees could read all emails dozens of members of Congress sent and received, as well as access any files members and their staff stored. Court records show the brothers ran a side business that owed $100,000 to an Iranian fugitive who has been tied to Hezbollah, and their stepmother says they often send money to Pakistan."

Found this on another website.

"Then-Rep. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, employed Abid for IT work in 2016. She was a member of House committees dealing with the armed services, oversight, and Benghazi. Duckworth was elected to the Senate in November 2016. Abid has a prior criminal record and a bankruptcy."

So Duckworth hired this Muslim with no background check?

And the fucks are 'so concerned' about the Russians…great diversion tactic!

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House IT Aides Fear Suspects In Hill Breach Are Blackmailing Members With Their Own Data

Congressional technology aides are baffled that data-theft allegations against four former House IT workers — who were banned from the congressional network — have largely been ignored, and they fear the integrity of sensitive high-level information.

Imran Awan and three relatives were colleagues until police banned them from computer networks at the House of Representatives after suspicion the brothers accessed congressional computers without permission.

Five Capitol Hill technology aides told The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group that members of Congress have displayed an inexplicable and intense loyalty towards the suspects who police say victimized them. The baffled aides wonder if the suspects are blackmailing representatives based on the contents of their emails and files, to which they had full access.

“I don’t know what they have, but they have something on someone. It’s been months at this point” with no arrests, said Pat Sowers, who has managed IT for several House offices for 12 years. “Something is rotten in Denmark.”

A manager at a tech-services company that works with Democratic House offices said he approached congressional offices, offering their services at one-fourth the price of Awan and his Pakistani brothers, but the members declined. At the time, he couldn’t understand why his offers were rejected but now he suspects the Awans exerted some type of leverage over members.

“There’s no question about it: If I was accused of a tenth of what these guys are accused of, they’d take me out in handcuffs that same day, and I’d never work again,” he said.

The Awans’ ban sent 20 members searching for new IT workers, but another contractor claims he’s had difficulty convincing offices to let him fill the void, even when he seemed like a shoo-in. He says he has the sense some members wrongly believed that he blew the whistle on the Awans’ theft and they were angry at him for it.

Politico reported the Awan crew is “accused of stealing equipment from members’ offices without their knowledge and committing serious, potentially illegal, violations on the House IT network.”

A House IT employee who requested anonymity said tech workers who have taken over some of those offices found that computers in some — but not all — offices were “thin clients” that sent all data to an offsite server in violation of House policies. Additionally, staffers’ iPhones were all linked to a single non-government iTunes account.

Awan began working for Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida in 2005, and his wife, his brother’s wife, and two of his brothers all appeared on the payrolls of various House Democrats soon after, payroll records show. They have collected $4 million since 2010.

For years, it was widely known that Awan, and eventually his 20-year-old brother Jamal, did the bulk of the work for various offices, while no-show employees were listed on members’ staffs in order to collect additional $165,000 salaries, workers said. This circumvented a rule that prevents any one staffer from making more than members of Congress.

Members were fiercely protective of the business, despite objectively shoddy work and requests for computer help routinely ignored for weeks, all said. An IT specialist who took over an Awan office said they did not keep an inventory of what hardware was there, and the office was paying for phone lines it hadn’t used in years.

“The number of offices they had would definitely be suspicious. The loyalty [members] had [coupled with] customer service that wasn’t there,” Sowers said.

One Democratic IT staffer said Awan “would come in and only help the member — he’d tell me this — because staff come and go. There was one staffer whose computer was broken and said, ‘I’m not going to pay my invoices until you fix my computer,’ and Imran went to the member, and they fired [the staffer who complained] that day. Imran has that power.”

Sowers said, “I love the Hill but to see this clear lack of concern over what appears to be a major breach bothers me. Everyone has said for years they were breaking the rules, but it’s just been a matter of time.”

An employee of a third private company with House IT office contracts, who like most of the others requested anonymity, said the Awans had more offices than anyone, yet “there’s networkers meetings once a week and I never saw them ever come to them. We have an email group; I never saw them contribute or reply.”

The investigation goes far beyond the theft of millions of dollars. The employees could read all emails dozens of members of Congress sent and received, as well as access any files members and their staff stored. Court records show the brothers ran a side business that owed $100,000 to an Iranian fugitive who has been tied to Hezbollah, and their stepmother says they often send money to Pakistan.

“When you’re an admin for an office, yes, you have access to everything, you’re the one providing access for others,” the IT specialist said.

Wasserman Schultz, the victim of a disastrous hack while she was chairman of the Democratic National Committee, renamed Awan an “advisor” to circumvent the Capitol Police’s computer network ban on the brothers. Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge’s office told Politico a month after the ban that she had not fired Imran either.

After Wasserman Schultz and Fudge, as well as New York Democratic Reps. Gregory Meeks and Yvette Clarke and the House Democratic Caucus office, retained the Awans, the incumbents or their staffs encouraged newly-elected members to place the family on their payrolls.

“You’d think in the caucus they’d know these guys were working for all of them and they couldn’t possibly support all of them. Someone must have been turning a blind eye,” the IT specialist said.

“You have the power to shut down the office, remove all their data and lock everyone out. It’s got to be a trusted adviser. How could you not see this? Maybe it’s not specifically blackmail, maybe it’s, you knew this was going on and let me do this” for years, the specialist continued.

Another Democratic IT contractor said members “are saying don’t say anything, this will all blow over if we all don’t say anything.” The Awans “had [members] in their pocket,” and “there are a lot of members who could go down over this.”

Dems are being blackmailed

They won't stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance

This is sad, sad, sad, bad enough to see it with sports, but now it is in schools and Congress….SICK!!!!

If they won't stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, in my opinion...they have no place in our Congress!

(All Dem-o-rats no doubt)

Any member of the house or senate that refuse to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance in the Chambers should be escorted out by the Sergeant at Arms until they comply. If your allegiance is not with this country and our flag, just who is it with?

Why don't we ask someone like Minnesota's Muslim congressman Keith Ellison!

Let`s cut off their pay -- and all benefits. Give the ingrates two days to decide to retire or be impeached.

They won't stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance