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NY AG’s Office Hiding Climate Activist’s Emails Behind Whistleblower Defense

The New York attorney general’s office is trying to use a whistleblower defense to keep emails between their office and a third-party attorney sealed and out of public view, despite the person at issue’s active efforts to persuade governments across the country to sue large energy producers.

Last October, then-New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed suit against Exxon alleging the company had misled its investors by not disclosing future risks the company might face due to climate change.

Exxon is hoping emails can be made public between the attorney general’s office (OAG) and outside attorney Matt Pawa, who has been a leading figure in the effort to convince government agencies to pursue lawsuits against companies like ExxonMobil, BP, and Chevron.

"As ExxonMobil is well aware, the publication of such documents [from Pawa] will discourage other third parties and potential whistleblowers from communicating information about potential wrongdoing or illegality," lawyers with the New York OAG wrote in a court filing.

However, media reports and filings from other court cases show Pawa is an eager and willing participant in efforts to initiate legal action against energy producers, as has happened now with cities such as San Francisco, and states like Rhode Island.

A judge "signed off on findings of fact that document the role Matt Pawa, an attorney at Hagens Berman, had in pushing a strategy unveiled in 2012 at a conference in California," a Forbes report from last year noted.

During the 2012 conference just mentioned, "participants discussed strategies to ‘[w]in [a]cess to [i]nternal [d]ocuments’ of energy companies, like ExxonMobil, that could be used to obtain leverage over these companies," the judge determined.

The emails in question have been turned over to Exxon as a part of discovery, but under seal. The company is asking the judge to remove the seal so it would be able to refile the documents and thereby put them into the public domain.

Apart from the strategy of suing energy producers, Pawa has also been a force behind the broader #ExxonKnew campaign, which has tried to undermine the company’s reputation by alleging that its corporate scientists knew as early as the late 1970s and early 1980s about climate change and engaged in a cover-up and propaganda effort to hide culpability.

Further evidence that Pawa has collaborated with state attorneys general stems from a March 2016 meeting in which 17 AGs, as well as former vice president Al Gore, were briefed on legal strategies the state top lawyers could use based on the notion that Exxon misled the public about climate change.

After the meeting, then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Gore, and others conducted a lengthy press conference announcing their intentions.

"I thank you for joining us here today for what we believe and hope will mark a significant milestone in our collective efforts to deal with the problem of climate change, and put our heads together and put our offices together to try and take the most coordinated approach yet undertaken by states to deal with this most pressing issue of our time," Schneiderman said.

Emails later revealed that Pawa was a presenter to the AGs behind closed doors at that meeting in New York prior to the press conference, something Pawa later tried to keep from being discovered.

One of those emails shows a Wall Street Journal reporter contacted Pawa the next day and inquired about his attendance.

"I may not even talk to her at all but if I do I obviously will have no comment on anything discussed at the meeting," Pawa wrote to someone inside the New York attorney general’s office as he sought guidance on the matter. "What should I say if she asks if I attended? No comment? Let me know."

"My ask is if you speak to a reporter, to not confirm that you attended or otherwise discuss the event," the lawyer replied to Pawa.

Other emails obtained via open records requests by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in D.C. show a wealthy Democratic donor reaching out to the Illinois attorney general’s office to arrange a presentation by Pawa in the spring of 2016.

Requests for comment to the New York attorney general’s office as well as to Pawa were not returned.

The post NY AG’s Office Hiding Climate Activist’s Emails Behind Whistleblower Defense appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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Chuck Todd Only Cites Polls Suggesting Public Support for Abortion

On Wednesday’s MTP Daily, host Chuck Todd cited two polls suggesting the public was mostly supportive of abortion. By contrast, a couple of days earlier when Steve Kornacki was fill in host for the same show, he was more accurate in admitting that polling can also be found that suggests most Americans oppose abortion.

via NewsBusters – Exposing Liberal Media Bias

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China Arrests Man for ‘Insulting’ Officials by Naming Dogs After Them

Police in China on Monday arrested a man and detained him for ten days for the “crime” of “picking quarrels and making trouble” by mocking public officials with the name he gave his dogs.

The South China Morning Post explained the detainee, whose last name was given as “Ban,” is a professional dog breeder who decided to advertise his dogs on social media under the name “chengguan.”

Chengguan is the name commonly used for China’s Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau, which is basically a Communist Party goon squad with franchise operations in every city. The chengguan enforce all the little ordinances Chinese authorities write to micromanage the lives of their citizens and have a habit of using excessive violence to do it. Imagine a code enforcement bureau that not only hassles you for selling watermelons without a permit but beats you to death on the spot in front of your wife.

The central government knows how unpopular the chengguan are and has taken some unusual steps to improve their image, such as fitting the enforcers with body cameras to cut down on wanton violence.

Some defend the urban administrative police as necessary to maintain order as large numbers of rural Chinese migrate to cities, unaware of their complex laws and inclined to unpleasant responses when apprised of violations. Of course, in China, the easiest way to deal with complaints about abusive public officials is to abuse those who complain.

Ban was charged with sending “outrageous messages” by comparing the chengguan to dogs and tossed in jail without much in the way of legal process, a move the South China Morning Post said has become divisive on Chinese social media:

“I think it’s too much to name dogs chengguan. Are you so sure that your family members, friends and children won’t take up this job in future? After all, chengguan have made some contributions to our cities,” wrote one person on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like website.

“Cities would be in a mess without chengguan,” commented another internet user.

But a third person wrote, “It’s not appropriate to call dogs chengguan, but is it so serious to put him in custody?”

Another online commenter said: “I take my pet for baths at pet stores and meet many cats and dogs. Some of them are called President or General and one is even named Trump. Shall I remind their owners or report to police directly?”

Zhang Xinnian, a lawyer from Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, told Chengdu Business News that Ban had offended chengguan but questioned his punishment.

“He should be condemned or receive a verbal warning, without necessarily being charged for making trouble,” Zhang said.

Although Ban claimed he did not mean his social media posts as insults and did not realize he was violating any laws, his labeling of dogs as chengguan might have seemed like an especially pointed jab because they are frequently accused of cruelty to animals who break the strict licensing laws and regulations on pets in Chinese cities.

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HUGE! Nellie Ohr Deleted Emails Exchanged With DOJ Husband Bruce Ohr, “I’m Deleting These Emails Now”


Nellie Ohr, Bruce Ohr

Judicial Watch strikes again!

Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained 339 heavily redacted DOJ documents through a March 2018 FOIA lawsuit filed after the Justice Department failed to respond a December 2017 request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-00490)).

Nellie Ohr, wife of twice-demoted DOJ official Bruce Ohr, who worked for oppo research firm Fusion GPS was actually caught trying to destroy documents relevant to the targeting and attempted coup of Trump.

Via Judicial Watch:

From: Nellie Ohr

Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 12:49 PM

To: Ohr, Bruce (ODAG)

Subject: Re: Analyst Russian Organized Crime – April 2016

Thanks! I’m deleting these emails now

Nellie Ohr’s email has the same subject line as an email exchange with the subject line “Analyst Russian Organized Crime – April 2016” in which Bress initiates a discussion with Bruce Ohr and his top aide, Lisa Holtyn, proffering some “Russian analysts” to discuss a variety of topics with Ohr, Holtyn, and other DOJ officials. Among those topics to be discussed is “Impact of Russian influence operations in Europe (‘PsyOps/InfoWar’).”

Holtyn responds with, “I haven’t had a chance to confer with Bruce yet, but would certainly love to meet with the ‘A Team’!” Bruce Ohr then says, “That time works for me as well.” Bress then provides the personal details/passport numbers of the German analysts who will be meeting with Holtyn and Ohr. Holtyn tells Bress that the Ohr’s would like to host the German delegation for dinner and notes that Joe Wheatley and Ivana Nizich (a husband/wife team of DOJ Organized Crime prosecutors and friends of the Ohr’s) would join them as well.

Bruce Ohr was a top official in the DOJ working as an Assistant Deputy Attorney General and was ultimately demoted twice for his connection to Christopher Steele and for promoting the phony dossier.

Bruce Ohr’s wife Nellie Ohr was contracted by oppo research firm Fusion GPS to “assist in cultivation of opposition research on Trump” and her hubby Bruce passed along her Hillary Clinton/DNC-funded dirt to the FBI.

The phony Hillary-funded dossier was eventually used to obtain a FISA warrant on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page.

Congressman Mark Meadows recently criminally referred Nellie Ohr to the Justice Department after hundreds of new emails surfaced, contradicting her previous statements to Congress.

A series of “Hi Honey” emails from Nellie Ohr to her top DOJ husband Bruce Ohr surfaced and suggested Hillary-funded oppo research was being funneled into the DOJ during the 2016 election through a backchannel between the happily married Ohr couple.

“This email is disturbing and suggests documents relevant to the improper targeting of President Trump were destroyed,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

You can support Tom Fitton and Judicial Watch by clicking here.

The post HUGE! Nellie Ohr Deleted Emails Exchanged With DOJ Husband Bruce Ohr, “I’m Deleting These Emails Now” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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RATs: Republicans Against Trump

RATs: Republicans Against Trump

There’s Something Happening Here…What it is ain’t exactly clear.

Come along for the ride from the 60s as we can see that “…there’s a man with the law over there, tellin’ us we’ve got to be’ware. Think it’s time we STOP…! Children, what’s that sound, everybody look what’s goin’ down…”

And, therein lies the trillion dollar question (updated to coincide with our National debt). The Democratic/Communists, controlled and financed by the Deep State cabal’s long term goal to divide and conquer the former ‘United’ States of America into their false illusion of a socialistic utopia is nearly complete. And, you and I are the only ones who can prevent them from completing their mission. You and I, with a little help from President Trump and AG Barr, that is.

via CanadaFreePress.Com

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Code Pink activists forcibly removed from Venezuelan embassy

A group of left-wing protesters calling themselves the Embassy Protection Collective had occupied the Venezuelan embassy as part of the “Hands Off Venezuela” movement. Today the remaining four were evicted and arrested by police:

Carlos Vecchio, the Guaidó-appointed ambassador who has been recognized by the U.S. government, tweeted that the embassy had been liberated. Federal authorities and D.C. police arrived at the embassy this morning and entered the building, but haven’t commented today on the situation.

Code Pink organizers identified the four activists arrested as Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers, Adrienne Pine and David Paul.

Here’s what these four dead-enders look like. Note they are posing in front of a photo of Hugo Chavez:

In theory, this movement was about avoiding US intervention in Venezuela. In reality, it is offering support to the country’s embattled dictator Nicolas Maduro. There have been ongoing skirmishes between the protesters inside the embassy and anti-Maduro protesters outside who wanted them ejected. This will give you a sense of what has been happening for the past month:

Last week the occupation took a turn when an ambassador representing Juan Guaido, the recognized interim president of Venezuela, ordered PEPCO to cut power and water to the embassy. The protesters were outraged at having to live in conditions not that different from how many Venezuelans have been living for months. The standoff turned a legal corner Monday when protesters were served with an eviction notice.

Protesters outside also made it difficult for the people inside to get food. There was a scuffle yesterday as Jesse Jackson brought food which Code Pink supporters tried to send up to the embassy on a rope:

But it was all for naught. The four remaining Maduro supporters have been removed and arrested.

Finally, here’s a Vice report on the situation from last week featuring an interview with Medea Benjamin who sidesteps the question of whether or not she supports Maduro (Hint: She does). Toward the end of this a Venezuelan woman tells Vice, “I really feel like these people have a savior complex.” She’s right about that. Now that they’ve been ejected they can move on to saving someone else.

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Does President Trump Know EVERY Pro-Trump Publisher from 2016 Has Been Decimated or Eliminated by Facebook — Including His Own Account?

Tech Giants Google, Twitter and Facebook are currently purging conservative content from their platforms — Google is hiding conservative stories from their search results — Tech giants are shadow-banning conservative news on all social media.

In February of 2018 Facebook launched a new algorithm to ensure that conservative news would not spread on their social media platform.

The algorithm change caused President Donald Trump’s engagement on Facebook posts to plummet a whopping 45%.

In contrast, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) do not appear to have suffered a comparable decline in Facebook engagement.

Top conservative Facebook pages with daily traffic in the millions have seen 75% to 95% drop in traffic since the 2016 election.

Young Cons, Western Journalism, SarahPalin.com, Chicks on the Right, Independent Journal Review, Right Wing News, The Gateway Pundit, Infowars (banned completely), Breitbart, Pamela Geller, Laura Loomer (banned), 100% Fed Up  and several others have seen dramatic loss in traffic and influence.

Facebook uses Soros-funded Poynter as to fact-check on their platform — The same group that recently listed EVERY prominent conservative publisher last week as fake news.

Facebook has been shutting down traffic to conservative websites since the 2016 election.

In March 2017 Columbia Journalism Review published a study of the 2016 election that found conservatives had abandoned the liberal mainstream media in 2016 and went online and to social media to get their news.

Harvard University published a similar study months later.

This slide shows the online influence map on Facebook before the 2016 election.
(Columbia Journalism Review)

After this study was published Facebook went to work and started censoring conservative content through a series of algorithm changes.

By Summer 2018 this is what the Facebook influence map looks like today.

Facebook was on a mission to delete traffic to conservative websites.

Most prominent conservative publishers from the November 2016 election have been hit hard or eliminated.

So does President Trump or his campaign manager Brad Parscale know that Facebook wiped out his top supporters from the platform?
Do they care?

The post Does President Trump Know EVERY Pro-Trump Publisher from 2016 Has Been Decimated or Eliminated by Facebook — Including His Own Account? appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Networks Hype Democrat Meltdown After Alabama Senate Passes Abortion Ban

Wednesday morning the big three networks fretted over another comprehensive pro-life bill that was passed in the Alabama Senate last night, that would punish doctors who perform abortions or related activities during any stage of pregnancy for any reason other than saving the life of the mother. The bill’s Republican sponsor hopes to force the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade. Instead of interviewing pro-life organizations about the bill, all three networks hyped Democrat freak outs and nutty liberal activists dressed up as dystopian novel characters, instead.

via NewsBusters – Exposing Liberal Media Bias

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