Tag: corruption

‘Colossal public interest’: Mainstream media, conservative groups fire back at DOJ rationale for withholding audiotapes of President Biden’s special counsel interview

As a fight to obtain audiotapes of Joe Biden’s five-hour interview with special counsel Robert Hur carries on in court, both a coalition of mainstream media organizations and conservative groups agree that the 46th president should not be able to hide behind executive privilege and worries of “deepfakes” to avoid disclosure in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case.

The Heritage Foundation, Judicial Watch, and the media coalition, composed of CNN, ABC, The Associated Press, CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, NBC, Reuters, and more, separately filed documents Friday opposing the motion for summary judgment that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s DOJ filed in late May.

The Heritage Foundation, calling this a “simple case despite the efforts of the Government to complicate it,” offered counterpoints to DOJ assertions that the public’s access to the transcripts of Hur’s Biden interview is more than sufficient in light of foreseeable “privacy harms.”

“While the transcript discloses spoken words (the ‘lexical’ portion of the interview), the audio recording is the only source of the ‘non-lexical’ portion that depicts the tone, tenor, cadence, pauses, hesitations, and other demeanor evidence of the interview,” wrote attorney Samuel E. Dewey. “As any junior trial lawyer can attest, a witness’s live recording speaks volumes more than a cold transcript of the same testimony.”

“Special Counsel Hur testified to Congress that he relied upon this ‘demeanor’ evidence to reach his controversial decision to recommend against criminal charges,” the filing continued.

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Biden Campaign Launches Taskforce to Combat Alleged “Cheap Fakes,” Urges Media Support

The Biden campaign is putting together a specialized task force that has been formed to counter what it considers manipulated portrayals of President Biden in online videos.

According to a staffer, who spoke with Politico, this initiative aims to “mitigate the risks” associated with these videos, which depict the president in various awkward or confusing situations.

Despite pushback on the Biden administration that the videos are actually accurate and have not been manipulated with AI, this move underscores a deepening concern within the Biden administration regarding the circulation of these clips on social media platforms, often highlighted as signs of the president’s deteriorating mental agility.

The issue gained traction following a press conference where White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized the media for distributing footage showing Biden in an unflattering light. Jean-Pierre labeled one such video, which showed former President Barack Obama assisting a seemingly bewildered Biden off a stage, as a “deepfake” and a “cheap fake video done in bad faith.”

Further incidents adding to the controversy include Biden’s peculiar behavior during a G7 summit and a Juneteenth event. In one instance, he was seen wandering away from a group of world leaders and in another, appearing disoriented among dancing attendees.

The campaign’s approach has sparked criticism from various quarters, accusing it of attempting to censor and control the narrative surrounding the president’s public appearances. Social media reactions have been sharply divided, with some users mocking the campaign’s efforts to label these videos as “cheap fakes” and questioning the integrity of the mainstream media’s coverage of these events.

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Georgia Judge Accused of Assaulting Cop at Club Claims She Was ‘Set Up’

A Georgia judge is claiming that her arrest at an Atlanta-area nightclub was a “setup” after she was caught on police body camera striking an officer in an altercation where she says she was only trying to help a woman who was being attacked.

Douglas County Probate Judge Christina Peterson was arrested at the Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge in Buckhead shortly after 3:00 a.m. Thursday when police responded to a fight “between two separate parties,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. 

While Peterson was “not involved in the initial altercation,” according to the arresting officer, he said he was “approached and struck with a closed fist by the accused, Christina Peterson.”

“Ms. Peterson then forcibly pushed the officer in the chest and kept swiping his hands away as he attempted to assist the female being escorted out,” the Atlanta Police Department said in a press release.  

“Ms. Peterson pushed the officer in the chest again and that is when she was subsequently placed into custody.”

The 38-year-old judge has since been charged with battery and felony obstruction, with body cam footage released by Atlanta Police Department (APD) showing her striking the cop and screaming “let her fucking go” as he attempts to break up the dispute.

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What Can You Do While Waiting for a FOIA Response?

The government is slow, especially at answering questions about itself. In theory, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lets Americans ask any federal agency for any public record and get a response back within 20 days. All 50 states have similar records laws. After all, government documents are the property of the taxpayer.

In practice, almost no government agency meets its own deadlines. FOIA requests can take weeks, months, or even years longer than the legal deadline. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies are notorious for sitting on requests for ages before handing back pages that are almost entirely censored with a black highlighter.

Using data from the public records site MuckRock, Reason calculated the average response times for several agencies. It turns out that you can do a lot of fun (and not so fun) things while waiting for bureaucrats to give you the documents that your taxes paid for.

The averages only include cases where the agency actually managed to turn up documents. It doesn’t count requests that are still pending or cases where an agency straight-up ghosted the requester.

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Biden Admin Asked Amazon To Hide Vaccine-Critical Books During Pandemic

The Biden Administration pressured Amazon to hide books for sale on its platform that were critical of vaccines during the pandemic, it has been revealed.

The findings were presented by the House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in documents that show Amazon reduced the visibility of titles that the government deemed overly critical of big pharma shots.

The documents show that some books were simply generally critical of vaccines, with several written by medical professionals. Some were even just reviews of scientific studies.

The Federal government compiled a “Do Not Promote” list, to which more than 40 titles were added.

In a series of X posts, Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan explained how internal emails from Amazon contain employees revealed that “the impetus for this request is criticism from the Biden Administration.”

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FBI Raids Home of Democrat Oakland Mayor

FBI agents on Thursday conducted an early morning raid on the home of Democrat Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, possibly in relation to a corruption probe.

Agents with the Bureau were seen removing boxes from the mayor’s home around 10AM, however they did not immediately identify the cause of the raid.

“The FBI is conducting court authorized law enforcement activity on Maiden Lane. We are unable to provide additional information at this time,” the FBI said.

In a statement on X, ABC7 chief investigative reporter Dan Noyes claimed he’d received a tip from a law enforcement source the raid was in relation to a “public corruption investigation of Thao and her boyfriend.”

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Prosecutor had dog cremated, bought Target pillows on taxpayers’ dime with funds meant for crime victims: Cops

Authorities in Georgia have arrested an Atlanta prosecutor who allegedly used taxpayer funds meant to help crime victims to buy items for herself such as cremation for her dog, breakfast and pillows from Target.

A grand jury indicted Hall County Solicitor General Stephanie Woodard on 11 counts of theft by taking and 13 counts of false statements and writings, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in a press release. Woodard on “several occasions from July 2018 through September 2022” used funds from Hall County and the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia for personal expenses, according to Carr. She also allegedly accepted reimbursement for travel and continuing education classes she didn’t actually attend.

“Those elected to uphold the law must operate honestly, ethically and transparently, and anything less undermines our system,” Carr said in a statement. “Theft of taxpayer dollars and falsifying documents to cover up that theft are entirely unacceptable.”

Woodard was tasked with prosecuting misdemeanor cases within the county, but now faces felony charges herself.

Among the allegations: Woodard turned in a receipt from a breakfast restaurant, claiming it was for abuse awareness when it was not. She said she was paying an expense related to law school admissions for a victim in a local youth program when it was really for someone else. Woodard requested reimbursement for costs related to a court case but it was actually to pay for cremation for her dog. She bought pillows for herself at Target and said they were for a victim.

Atlanta Fox affiliate WAGA has been investigating Woodard’s actions for years. The TV station even tracked down the person who cremated her dog. Rick Farmer, of Precious Memories Crematory, gave a statement to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about the $190 expense.

“It was paid to me, for her dog,” Farmer told the outlet. “Sounds like she owes the county some money and a whole bunch of other people a big apology.”

Woodard’s attorneys released a statement calling the indictment “absurd” and “unfathomable.”

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Indiana Cop Used Facial Recognition Scans To Preform Non-Work-Related Searches

The use of Clearview’s facial recognition tech by US law enforcement is controversial in and of itself, and it turns out some police officers can use it “for personal purposes.”

One such case happened in Evansville, Indiana, where an officer had to resign after an audit showed the tech was “misused” to carry out searches that had nothing to do with his cases.

Clearview AI, which has been hit with fines and much criticism – only to see its business go stronger than ever, is almost casually described in legacy media reports as “secretive.”

But that sits badly in juxtaposition of another description of the company, as peddling to law enforcement (and the Department of Homeland Security in the US) some of the most sophisticated facial recognition and search technology in existence.

However, the Indiana case is not about Clearview itself – the only reason the officer, Michael Dockery, and his activities got exposed is because of a “routine audit,” as reports put it. And the audit was necessary to get Clearview’s license renewed by the police department.

In other words, the focus is not on the company and what it does (and how much of what and how it does, citizens are allowed to know) but on there being audits, and those ending up in smoking out some cops who performed “improper searches.” It’s almost a way to assure people Clearview’s tech is okay and subject to proper checks.

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Karine Jean-Pierre doubles down on awkward videos of Biden being ‘cheap fakes’ and insists clips are ‘disinformation’ from conservatives

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre continues to say President Biden is being miscast by videos she calls ‘cheap fakes’ after repeated videos of him being guided by other leaders or briefly ‘freezing’ on stage.

She hammered the media and blamed Republicans for attacks she called ‘misinformation.’ She did not repeat the use of another term – ‘deepfakes’ – that she used at her Monday White House briefing.

That is a form of digital altering of video an images, which the White House and Biden backers have not established took place with video from him at the G7 in Italy, at a White House Juneteenth event, or at an LA fundraiser.

‘It’s also very insulting to the folks, the viewers who are watching it. And so we believe we have to call that out. We’ve been calling it cheap fakes. That is something that came directly from the media outlets in calling it that, the fact-checkers and calling it that. And so we’re certainly going to be really, really clear about that as well. And calling it out from where we are, from where we stand,’ she said.

Then she specifically took on some of the Biden incidents that have drawn notice – including one of him walking away from a group of world leaders at the G7 in Italy, only to be guided back to a photo-op by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. 

‘I think there is so much misinformation, disinformation as we’ve been talking about. You talked about the video of the president wandering. And it’s not true. Right? The president wasn’t wandering. He was talking to a parachuter that was right in front of him. And what you saw is the Republican Party really manipulating what was being said and what was being seen by the American people,’ she said.

On Monday at her White House press briefing, Jean-Pierre told DailyMail.com that former President Barack Obama‘s decision to guide Biden after a big bucks fundraiser was a function of their longstanding relationship. 

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CDC STACKS ITS VACCINE COMMITTEE WITH PHARMA-AFFILIATED MEMBERS AHEAD OF JUNE 2024 VOTE ON COVID-19 VACCINES

An ICAN investigation into the background of new members appointed to CDC’s highly influential Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) reveals deep ties with the pharmaceutical industry. Later this month, ACIP will vote on COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for the 2024-25 season. In May, ICAN filed a lawsuit against HHS for its failure to comply with a FOIA request related to these ACIP appointments.

Recently, the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) announced that it had finally filled eight vacant positions and added an additional voting member to ACIP (which advises CDC on which vaccines should be administered within the United States, how often, and to whom), bringing the number to sixteen voting members.

Given that half of the committee is being replaced at once, ICAN submitted FOIA requests seeking more information on these appointments and, when HHS failed to respond in accordance with the law, ICAN brought suit. In the meantime, ICAN conducted its own investigation and, disturbingly, found that seven of these nine individuals have direct financial ties to vaccine manufacturers, and many have received multi-million dollar grants from NIH.

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