Midterm mystery: Who hacked the NRCC?


And not just who, but also why — and for some Republicans, when. Hackers gained access to the National Republican Congressional Committee’s systems for an extended period of time, tracking the activities of four “senior aides” for “several months,” Politico reported yesterday. The NRCC brought it outside security consultants and then the FBI, but apparently no one knows who conducted the hack:

The House GOP campaign arm suffered a major hack during the 2018 election, exposing thousands of sensitive emails to an outside intruder, according to three senior party officials.

The email accounts of four senior aides at the National Republican Congressional Committee were surveilled for several months, the party officials said. The intrusion was detected in April by an NRCC vendor, who alerted the committee and its cybersecurity contractor. An internal investigation was initiated and the FBI was alerted to the attack, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the incident.

April? Why didn’t this come out before the election? That’s a question that a lot of House Republicans might be asking today, too:

However, senior House Republicans — including Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) — were not informed of the hack until POLITICO contacted the NRCC on Monday with questions about the episode. Rank-and-file House Republicans were not told, either.

How did it stay quiet for this long? The NRCC wanted it kept quiet, claiming that publicity would have made it more difficult to find the intruders. (So far it doesn’t appear that seven months of silence did much better.) The Washington Post notes that the breach must not have involved sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers or other identification, which would have required a report within thirty days.

One other reason it remained quiet, however, is that the hackers apparently wanted it that way, too. That’s a contrast to the hacking of the DNC:

The NRCC intrusion bears similarities to the DNC breach in 2016, in which Russian hackers stole emails of senior committee officials.

But in that case, the Russians gave the emails to WikiLeaks, which published them ahead of the Democratic National Convention. The emails revealed that committee leaders had supported Hillary Clinton as the likely nominee, even though they had publicly claimed not to have a preferred candidate.

There is no indication that any NRCC emails were made public.

Former Obama nat-sec adviser Brett Bruen criticized the NRCC for not coming forward sooner, saying that this might have been a foreign-intelligence hack:

“It would provide them with critical insights into the plans, weaknesses and interests of key GOP officials and candidates. By not being transparent about this clear vulnerability to our democracy, the NRCC placed the interests of party over those of the country.”

Well, the NRCC did notify the FBI, which has jurisdiction in counter-intelligence matters. They claim to have done so “immediately,” and told the Post that the FBI are still investigating the matter. Bruen can’t be seriously claiming that “transparent” in this case means blowing cover on a sensitive counter-intelligence operation, can he?

Bruen’s criticism is a little overblown in another sense, too.  Foreign intel services would have interest in anything to do with elected officials, but it’s not really clear what value the NRCC e-mails and internal comms would have except as a potential embarrassment vehicle, which is how the Russians used the hacked DNC and John Podesta e-mails. You don’t need the NRCC’s internal e-mails to grasp GOTV strategies, and marketing plans are hardly the fulcrum on which national interests lie. There might be some value for extortion tactics to flip people into espionage — but again, the FBI’s been on this for months and thus far appear to have had no grounds for arrest on anything related to the hack.

According to the description of the hack, someone went to a lot of time and expense to get into the NRCC’s system only to come up with nothing, at least so far. Could that be what Defense Secretary James Mattis had in mind this week when he claimed that Russia tried interfering with the 2018 midterms? Or was this more of a domestic dirty trick by an entity with deep pockets and a big desire to see what Republicans had planned in the midterms? We may not know until the detective brings everyone into the dining car for the big reveal in the last five pages of this whodunit, but it’s worth watching along the way.

via Hot Air

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Report: Stanford University Official Urged Frat To Remove American Flag. Frat Gave Classic American Answer.

According to an article in The Stanford Review, a fraternity at Stanford University had a distinctly “Don’t Tread On Me” moment in 2017 when an administrator encouraged it to take down the American flag so it could outlast probation: it defied the advice and replaced its flag with an even bigger one.

via Daily Wire

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This is a wake-up call!

This is a wake-up call!
The migrant invasion that has engulfed Europe is now attempting a replay in America. These past several years saw the European continent being inundated with migrants, mostly Muslim, military age males, people with no history or culture of democracy.

via CanadaFreePress.Com

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Starbucks thinks virtue signaling can “save the planet”

Starbucks thinks virtue signaling can save the planet
I’d just passed the local Starbucks in Chicago, when my cell phone buzzed to say the Washington, DC City Council had unanimously agreed “in a preliminary vote” to require that 100% of the District’s electricity must come from renewable sources by 2032. How can they put hundreds of wind turbines and solar arrays in DC, or get only renewable electrons from the wind-solar-fossil-nuclear grid? I wondered.

via CanadaFreePress.Com

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Anti-Gun Researchers Undermine The Anti-Gun Narrative…D’oh

Those pesky facts.

We have good news from a joint effort between the Violence Prevention Research Program at the UC Davis School of Medicine and the Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Johns Hopkins University.
Comprehensive background checks and prohibitions based on violent misdemeanors had no effect on homicide rates in California.

The latest study published by the highly-credentialed researchers in these well-funded programs, “California’s comprehensive background check and misdemeanor violence prohibition policies and firearm mortality,” was designed to evaluate the effect of California’s 1991 comprehensive background check and prohibiting those convicted of violent misdemeanors policies on firearm homicide and suicide. The study period was 1981-2000, with secondary analysis up to 2005.

Using a synthetic control methodology, the researchers found that the comprehensive background check and violent misdemeanor prohibitions were not associated with changes in firearm suicide or homicide.

In conversational language, the two policies had no effect.

We credit the researchers for publishing these findings that run contrary to their own established opinions regarding firearms. There are, naturally, some methodological questions. For instance, the violent crime index only had a low predictive value and so was not included in the final model. The variables that did make the cut included specific age groups, race, gender, poverty level, veteran population, unemployment, alcohol consumption, and the proxy for gun ownership rates. Violent crime is often associated with homicide rates in other studies, yet was not included here.

The general design of the synthetic control model also raises questions. In this methodology, other states were combined and weighted to match California before the new policies were implemented. Eleven states were used to create this “synthetic” California but the contributions each of these states made to the synthetic California are not presented in the paper. The donor pool of states was limited to those that did not have policies similar to the comprehensive background check or prohibiting violent misdemeanor at the start of the study period and did not enact major firearm policy changes during that period, but…the differences between California and Alaska, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin are not limited to the social and demographic variables included in the model.

But back to the findings. You will recall, from just a few short paragraphs ago, that the notable anti-gun researchers – at least one of whom joined the anti-gun march on Washington this past March – found the comprehensive background check and prohibiting violent misdemeanor policies had no effect on firearm homicides or suicides in California.

Keep reading…

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Disgraced CBS Boss Les Moonves Destroyed Evidence in Failed Sexual Misconduct Cover-Up Scheme


Disgraced CBS chief executive Les Moonves destroyed scores of evidence and lied to investigators conducting a probe into multiple allegations against him, ranging from sexual harassment to rape.

Les Moonves “engaged in multiple acts of serious nonconsensual sexual misconduct in and outside of the workplace, both before and after he came to CBS in 1995,” says a report, according to the New York Times. The 59-page report, prepared by outside lawyers hired by CBS, said Moonves was “evasive and untruthful at times and to have deliberately lied about and minimized the extent of his sexual misconduct.”

Moonves — who joined CBS in 1995 and helped make it America’s most watch network, helping to shepherd hit TV shows like Survivor, How I Met Your Mother, and Big Bang Theory — was first accused in July of sexual misconduct by six women, dating back two decades. He denied the allegations. The Los Angeles prosecutors refused to charge the longtime television titan for sex abuse crimes for alleged assaults, one in 1986 and two more from 1988. But accusers continued to come forward.

Head of Weinstein Company Harvey Weinstein (L) and CBS Entertainment president Les Moonves attend a celebration of network television by the William Morris Agency at MoMA on May 12, 2008 in New York City. (Scott Wintrow/Getty Images)

CBS Corporation President/CEO Leslie Moonves (L) and journalist Charlie Rose (R) attend the Hollywood Radio & Television Society’s “A Conversation with Leslie Moonves” Newsmaker Luncheon at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on September 12, 2006 in Beverly Hills, California. (David Livingston/Getty Images)

Moonves, whose $69 million annual compensation, stocks, and other benefits totaled over a $1 billion, faced a new round of accusations, this time from six more women who told The New Yorker that Moonves forced them into nonconsensual sexual situations and retaliated when they refused his advances.
By September, the CBS board of directors was planning to offer Moonves north of $100 million in an exit package.

CNBC reported at the time:

CBS‘ board of directors is near completion of a settlement that would both end its litigation with its controlling shareholder National Amusements — and sever ties with long time CEO Leslie Moonves, according to people familiar with the situation.

The prospect of Moonves walking away with millions enraged the masses, many of them emboldened by the MeToo anti-sexual harassment. CBS hired two law firms to conduct an investigation into the allegations against its network head.

“Based on the facts developed to date, we believe that the board would have multiple bases upon which to conclude that the company was entitled to terminate Moonves for cause,” the report says, indicating that Moonves could be terminated without receiving a dime in compensation.

Among the more disturbing findings from the report, in which investigators spoke with 11 of the 17 known women who’ve accused Moonves of unwanted sexual advances, is the claim that Moonves “received oral sex from at least 4 CBS employees under circumstances that sound transactional and improper to the extent that there was no hint of any relationship, romance, or reciprocity (especially given what we know about his history of more or less forced oral sex with women with whom he has no ongoing relationship).”

“A number of employees were aware of this and believed that the woman was protected from discipline or termination as a result of it,” the lawyers wrote. “Moonves admitted to receiving oral sex from the woman, his subordinate, in his office, but described it as consensual.”

Moonves’ alleged victims include actresses Bobbie Phillip and Eva LaRue.

Les Moonves married long-time CBS fixture Julie Chen in 2004. Chen is currently host of the long-running primetime CBS show Big Brother.

Moonves’s lawyer, Andrew J. Levander, said his client “denies having any nonconsensual sexual relation” and “cooperated extensively and fully with investigators.”

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson

via Breitbart News

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Get Ready For Mueller to DROP A BOMB Soon – The Mueller Team Would Not Have Stopped Unless They Thought They Had Trump


Get Ready For Mueller to DROP A BOMB Soon – The Mueller Team Would Not Have Stopped Unless They Thought They Had Trump

Jim Hoft
by Jim Hoft
December 4, 2018

Guest post by Joe Hoft

The writing is on the wall.  Mueller will go ‘soft’ on General Flynn and ‘show mercy’, then he will drop a bomb on Manafort and nuke President Trump.  The MSM will lap it all up and call for the President’s removal.  The House Democrats will work diligently to make it so.

The corrupt Mueller team was not benevolent towards General Flynn today.  General Flynn should never have been put in that position.  It was all just a cover up for the crime of spying on General Flynn and others by the corrupt Obama administration.  Mueller and his Deep State gang targeted Flynn and others whom they illegally spied on and set up.

This was all predicted yesterday as soon as Michael Isikoff from Yahoo News (the same reporter whose story was planted and used by the Obama team to support obtaining a warrant to spy illegally on candidate Trump) announced that the Mueller gang was wrapping it up –

If the criminal and corrupt Mueller team is finally done with their witch 🧙‍♀️ hunt they must believe they have enough to remove @realDonaldTrump from office. Don’t expect anything from @GenFlynn release. Mueller might even go lenient on him (not because he’s innocent of any …

2 … and all crimes – because he is – not because he was set up perhaps by Halper and for sure by creepy demonic former FBI agent Peter Strzok- because he was) but because everything crime boss Mueller does in the witch hunt is to manage the complying fake news media. Mueller..

3 …will go light on @GenFlynn all for show and then the media will say how compassionate heir Mueller is to those he destroyed. Then the master crime boss will put Manafort in jail for life so he won’t release any press on Mueller’s all expense paid trip to the Ukraine that ..

4 .. Manafort and the sinister and creepy Podesta Brothers lined up. Of course the media will never report any of that. Hillary campaign manager John Podesta wasn’t involved with Mueller in crimes with the Ukraine pro Russia group only Manafort was (bs). Then Mueller will drop..

5 .. bombs 💣 using some support but mostly lies to take down @realDonaldTrump for God knows what. The media will go to a level never seen before making their lies and fake news over the past 4 years seem almost mild. The House Dems will then carry the lies …

6 .. into 2020 with their desires that no one will be arrested and @realDonaldTrump will be gone…. have faith in the Lord – pray for justice – and pray for @realDonaldTrump and this country… my money’s on Trump.

We were right about General Flynn’s sentencing.
Let’s see how the rest plays out.

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Flynn sentencing memo reveals the sham that is the Mueller investigation


Special Counsel Robert Mueller has finally provided his team’s sentencing recommendation  for three-star general Michael Flynn.  He has acknowledged that Flynn has provided 19 separate interviews with the Mueller team.  The heavily redacted report provides no information concerning the testimony that Flynn provided.  Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the investigation of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. 


Flynn has had to sell his home to pay his legal bills during this process.  His 33-year career serving our country seems to have meant little to the prosecutors trying to get him to turn on Trump.  Although we have no direct evidence for his sudden decision last year to plead guilty and cooperate, many believe that this was done to protect his son from being prosecuted.  This is the type of prosecutorial overreach that borders on ethical violations.  It certainly makes us wonder: what is prosecutorial discretion?



Shockingly, the basis for this investigation includes citation of the Logan Act of the 19th century, limiting foreign negotiations by the general public.  Most observers believe that the transition team is not subject to this law, which has rarely been used and never successfully when challenged in court.  Unfortunately, the FBI investigators reported that they did not believe that Flynn was intentionally lying when questioned about his interaction with then-Russian ambassador Kislyak. 


The report includes recognition that he did not register when doing work for the government of Turkey.  This is usually corrected by paper changes, not prosecution.  Further, all the information that led to the inquiry was collected through government communication-gathering.  Though the government is required to minimize the mention of names of U.S. citizens, this information was leaked to damage Flynn and ultimately Trump.


So far, most of the Mueller prosecutions have been process crimes and not ones with any connection to Russian collusion.  This includes George Papadopoulos and Michael Cohen.  This makes one wonder why Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein began this inquiry in the first place.  It is hard to dismiss all the unequal justice, including the questionable FISA warrant on Carter Page, begun with a phony Russian dossier.  


So now that Flynn’s life has been ruined, the prosecutor recommends no jail time.  The report gives no information that would give any connection to Trump directly.  There is no effort to provide any bombshell against the Trump campaign.  For any objective observer, the only collusion with Russia with any evidence came from the Clinton campaign in hiring Fusion GPS to secure the dossier from British agent Christopher Steele. 


Now we have complaints by Jerome Corsi and Roger Stone of prosecutorial abuse, which, taken together with statements of other individuals, casts great doubt upon the sincerity of the Mueller team.  Perhaps the investigation is winding up, but some believe that Mueller will continue until Trump is out of office.  Unfortunately, Flynn could not fight any longer due to his finances. 


The shame of this whole affair is the sham that has become our Justice Department, which has degenerated to the level of a third-world nation.  Reports say Mueller is tying up loose ends.  Let us hope this will end soon for the benefit of this republic.  Now we await the Democrat committee chairs in the incoming House who have threatened further inquiries.  God help us!


Image: James Ledbetter via Flickr.


Special Counsel Robert Mueller has finally provided his team’s sentencing recommendation  for three-star general Michael Flynn.  He has acknowledged that Flynn has provided 19 separate interviews with the Mueller team.  The heavily redacted report provides no information concerning the testimony that Flynn provided.  Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the investigation of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. 


Flynn has had to sell his home to pay his legal bills during this process.  His 33-year career serving our country seems to have meant little to the prosecutors trying to get him to turn on Trump.  Although we have no direct evidence for his sudden decision last year to plead guilty and cooperate, many believe that this was done to protect his son from being prosecuted.  This is the type of prosecutorial overreach that borders on ethical violations.  It certainly makes us wonder: what is prosecutorial discretion?


Shockingly, the basis for this investigation includes citation of the Logan Act of the 19th century, limiting foreign negotiations by the general public.  Most observers believe that the transition team is not subject to this law, which has rarely been used and never successfully when challenged in court.  Unfortunately, the FBI investigators reported that they did not believe that Flynn was intentionally lying when questioned about his interaction with then-Russian ambassador Kislyak. 


The report includes recognition that he did not register when doing work for the government of Turkey.  This is usually corrected by paper changes, not prosecution.  Further, all the information that led to the inquiry was collected through government communication-gathering.  Though the government is required to minimize the mention of names of U.S. citizens, this information was leaked to damage Flynn and ultimately Trump.


So far, most of the Mueller prosecutions have been process crimes and not ones with any connection to Russian collusion.  This includes George Papadopoulos and Michael Cohen.  This makes one wonder why Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein began this inquiry in the first place.  It is hard to dismiss all the unequal justice, including the questionable FISA warrant on Carter Page, begun with a phony Russian dossier.  


So now that Flynn’s life has been ruined, the prosecutor recommends no jail time.  The report gives no information that would give any connection to Trump directly.  There is no effort to provide any bombshell against the Trump campaign.  For any objective observer, the only collusion with Russia with any evidence came from the Clinton campaign in hiring Fusion GPS to secure the dossier from British agent Christopher Steele. 


Now we have complaints by Jerome Corsi and Roger Stone of prosecutorial abuse, which, taken together with statements of other individuals, casts great doubt upon the sincerity of the Mueller team.  Perhaps the investigation is winding up, but some believe that Mueller will continue until Trump is out of office.  Unfortunately, Flynn could not fight any longer due to his finances. 


The shame of this whole affair is the sham that has become our Justice Department, which has degenerated to the level of a third-world nation.  Reports say Mueller is tying up loose ends.  Let us hope this will end soon for the benefit of this republic.  Now we await the Democrat committee chairs in the incoming House who have threatened further inquiries.  God help us!


Image: James Ledbetter via Flickr.




via American Thinker Blog

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Stop partisan corpse abuse


Stop partisan corpse abuse
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2018

Impolite question, but it needs to be asked: Is there a Republican dead body that left-wing partisans won’t use to bash Donald Trump?

This week’s partisan corpse abusers callously exploited the passing of George H.W. Bush, America’s 41st president, to get in their digs at the current commander in chief. Their vulgar level of incivility was inversely propositional to their sanctimonious calls for decency.

“The View’s” Joy Behar rudely and crudely soiled the ABC show’s tribute to the 94-year-old World War II hero and lifelong public servant. While Whoopi Goldberg and other panelists paid homage to Bush’s character and love of family, Behar wielded an old Bush quote about federal Clean Air Act amendments to attack Trump on climate change. Her narcissistic pledge to become a “one-issue voter” on “pollution and the greenhouse effect” was interrupted when co-host Meghan McCain forcefully objected to the hijacking of their short-lived unity message.

Instead of apologizing for her ill-timed lapse into Trump Derangement Syndrome, Behar ripped into McCain while Goldberg cut to a commercial break. Not-so-joyful Joy reportedly shrieked in earshot of the audience: “Get this b—- under control” and told producers “If this s— doesn’t stop, I’m quitting this damn show. I can’t take this much more.”

Neither can my ears. Can’t we just all get along?

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski displayed a similar lack of restraint, extolling the Bush’s legacy of bipartisanship not for its own sake — but to carp about how “over the last two years deviancy has continued being defined down by this current president.”

The Washington Post’s lead article on Bush’s passing bemoaned: “‘Honorable, gracious and decent’: In Death, Bush Becomes a Yardstick for President Trump.” Yes, it’s a virtue-signaling yardstick to wallop Trump with in hopes of beating him into Beltway media submission.

Over at CNN, correspondent Jamie Gangel derided Trump’s somber visit to the U.S. Capitol to pay his respects as Bush 41’s casket arrived at the rotunda to lie in state. Gangel trashed Trump’s ceremonial salute to Bush as “theatrical” and rejected veteran Beltway commentator David Gergen’s assessment that Trump deserved credit for his decorum.

“I’m concerned that we shouldn’t give credit to someone for not kicking dirt on the grave of a person who just passed away,” said Jeffery Engel, rebuking Gergen during an interview with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. (Yes, that’s the same Cooper who demonstrated his commitment to civil discourse by infamously mocking tea party conservatives by using a degrading slang term for an oral sex act — also in an interview with poor David Gergen.)

Let’s stop pretending and give the historical whitewash a rest. This isn’t about celebrating “civility.” It’s about weaponizing “civility.” The newfound fans of the Bush clan spent years demonizing them as bloodthirsty warmongers and dynastic oppressors. Bush the Younger was lambasted as a “chimp,” beheaded in protest posters, and assassinated in off-Broadway plays. When liberals now praise the Bushes’ “civility,” what they are actually rewarding is the GOP establishment’s capitulation to liberal principles of big government and elitist comity.

Because the Bush family refused to fight back vigorously against media smears, daily Hollywood abuse and partisan slime, they’re considered paragons of virtue from whom Trump is lectured to “learn.” According to swamp etiquette, it’s uncouth to call out profane, deranged haters who have no qualms about letting their anti-Trump freak flags fly as decent Americans mourn.

“Civility” is in the eye of the bemoaner.

***

In case you’re interested, my thoughts on the Bush legacy are here at Breitbart.





via MichelleMalkin.com

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