The problem with most people is that they think in a very linear fashion and believe what they are told, even if their eyes tell the opposite. The obvious two examples of direct evidence to the contrary would be JFK being shot from behind or building 7 collapsing because of fires. People will believe these things even though looking at the video evidence obviously tells a different story. It is a kind of magic in a way, the illusion can be pushed no matter how evidently wrong it is. The hoaxes get worse and worse as the years go by and people believe all kinds of things even though there is no evidence. The more irrational the better it seems, nobody needs to present any evidence at all, people will just believe what they are told to them. Once a person sees through one lie, the scales usually start to fall from their eyes and the other lies become obvious. Unfortunately, things are largely moving in the opposite direction, most people have to lie to themselves and choose to believe more and more irrational claims to protect themselves psychologically from the obvious fact that those in power are criminally insane. This contradiction of course leads to deep psychological problems because even though the conscious mind can trick itself the subconscious still knows the truth. Eventually the will lead to a psychic break because the personality is no longer whole. This is why most Covid believers seem so close to have psychological breakdowns because they are in actual fact very close to having such a break. Their subconscious and conscious mind are actually at war with each other, and a break is the only solution for the mind in such a dilemma. It is important to remember how dangerous these people are and how at any moment they can completely loose it. It is best to avoid these people by any means necessary. They may even seem “alright” on the outside but this is mere desperate cover for the deep psychosis on the inside that is liable to break out at any moment. Your own personal safety can not be stressed enough about these people.
All that being said, what I am trying to get at is the world is not what most people think it is. It is not the world we learn in our history books or what we see on TV. Actually, to learn what is truly going in the world it takes both effort and curiosity. Since most people don’t even have one of these qualities, let alone both, the masses are perpetually in hopeless ignorance about the true nature of the world around them. For those who truly understand what is going on, the world seems to run by Intelligence agencies and most likely numerous secret societies. It is somewhat unclear who wields true power because these organizations by their very nature are secret. What is very obvious is that what were are shown on TV as having power is an absolute joke. Republican vs Demarcate, and other silly tribal political games that elites allow the masses to watch and vote on are merely bread and circuses for the dim witted plebs. True power rests behind the scenes by evidence of the fact that voting never changes a damn thing and whatever the “globalists” want they get.
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The true history of the CIA drug trade is fascinating and is a must watch.
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By Sarah N. Lynch, Ned Parker, Peter Eisler, Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) June 9 –
Created after the Watergate scandal, the U.S. Justice Department´s Public Integrity Section has fought political corruption for nearly
half a century.
Five months into President Donald Trump’s second term, it has
been stripped of power.
The unit has lost its authority to file new cases. Its staff has been reduced from more than 30 attorneys to five.
And its once-powerful gatekeeping role – reviewing potential cases against
members of Congress and other public officials to prevent politically motivated
prosecutions – has been suspended.
Those changes, confirmed by three people familiar with the department´s operations, are part of an overhaul of the
Justice Department by the Trump administration that is dismantling guardrails designed to stop political interference in criminal investigations
involving politicians, federal judges and other public figures.
Reuters reviewed the Public Integrity Section´s cases and internal memos,
and conducted more than 15 interviews, to document the decimation of an office
with a mission to investigate and prosecute corruption allegations at all levels
of government and supervise criminal probes into election crimes.
Among the most significant changes is the suspension of
a longstanding Justice Department requirement that federal
prosecutors seek the Public Integrity Section´s approval before bringing charges against members of Congress – and consult with
the unit before launching criminal prosecutions in many other matters involving public officials.
The suspension of that rule in early May hasn´t been previously reported.
It frees political appointees in the Justice Department to prosecute public officials
without going through a review intended to prevent baseless or politically motivated prosecutions.
It also halts the unit from supervising election fraud cases, including
allegations of election disinformation.
A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed changes to the rules
are under review, but said no final decisions have been reached.
The spokesperson added that Justice Department leaders
believe the U.S. Attorney’s offices around the country, which are “closer to the facts and to the communities they serve, are better placed to determine whether to charge these crimes.” U.S.
Attorneys are appointed by the president.
The requirements to run public corruption cases through
the Public Integrity Section give the unit “far too much power,” the spokesperson said.
The crippling of the Public Integrity Section,
under a president who campaigned on a vow to exact retribution against his enemies,
could make it easier to prosecute Trump´s opponents and spare his allies
,
said
constitutional law experts
and
former Justice Department officials
.
“We are talking about the politicization of the justice system,” said Stuart Gerson, the head of the Justice Department´s civil division under Republican President George H.W.
Bush and an acting attorney general under Democratic
President Bill Clinton. “The rule of law is endangered.”
The Justice Department defended the changes. “This Department of Justice is committed to ending the weaponization of government and will continue to prosecute violent crime, enforce our nation´s immigration laws, and make America safe again,” the spokesperson said.
Trump has said the changes are necessary to root out Justice Department lawyers he derides as “hacks and radicals” for prosecuting him and some of his supporters while he
was out of power. In a March speech at the Justice Department, he argued that under former President Joe Biden, federal prosecutors undermined public trust and used law enforcement to “thwart the will of the American people.”
Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi has vowed to refocus
the department on combatting violent crime and illegal immigration.
Justice Department prosecutors who worked on federal investigations involving Trump in recent
years repeatedly denied in court filings any political influence in those cases.
The dismantling of the Public Integrity Section is part of a broader Justice Department shift away from pursuing corruption cases under a leadership
dominated by a core group of Trump’s former attorneys, led by
Bondi.
In February, the administration suspended investigations of U.S.
companies for alleged corruption overseas. It also disbanded a Federal Bureau of Investigation task force that examined foreign interference
in U.S. politics. In April, it directed prosecutors to step back from litigating fraud involving cryptocurrency – a freewheeling sector that
has become a major money spinner for Trump´s family. A White House spokesperson said the
crypto policy shift “has nothing to do with the president himself.”
Reuters documented the departure of at least 28 staff from
the integrity unit in the past five months, including 10 resignations.
Eighteen others either transferred, left for temporary details or are
awaiting approval for reassignments. Just five remain. Ultimately, staffing is expected to be cut to two or three attorneys, according to
the three people familiar with the matter.
Trump also has started to undo the Public Integrity Section´s legacy by pardoning people convicted in cases brought
by the unit´s attorneys, giving clemency to political allies and others accused of defrauding the public.
Since January, the White House has issued
four such pardons involving cases brought by the unit.
The defendants in at least five other convictions are
seeking pardons, Reuters found.
The White House has said the pardons are attempts to correct the wrongs of a politicized Biden Justice Department.
A new Justice Department “Weaponization Working Group” – led by conservative lawyer
and activist Ed Martin – is scrutinizing past investigations into the president and his allies.
Beyond the Justice Department, Trump and his administration have sought to weaken or eliminate other institutions meant to be insulated from political influence,
including firing independent inspectors general, who audit
federal agencies for fraud and waste. Those moves risk steering the U.S.
toward a more autocratic style of government, some constitutional specialists warn.
“What is happening here is utterly unprecedented,” said Andrew Kent,
who teaches constitutional law at Fordham University School
of Law. “These seem like very dangerous steps for a democracy.”
A POWERFUL GATEKEEPER AND WATCHDOG
The Public Integrity Section was set up after the 1970s Watergate scandal that forced President Richard Nixon to resign under
threat of impeachment for covering up a burglary at a Democratic campaign office and interfering with Justice Department
investigations. The new unit, meant to restore faith in government and
hold public officials to account, became an elite post
for career prosecutors.
In the 1980s, the Public Integrity Section won the convictions of multiple congressmen in a famous
sting operation codenamed “Abscam” in which FBI agents posing as Arab sheikhs offered bribes in return for political favors.
Today, the unit is responsible for “some of the most sensitive, complex, and contentious public corruption cases” handled by the Justice Department, its website says.
Its work spans the political spectrum
,
including recent corruption prosecutions of both Republican and Democratic members of Congress.
The unit also consulted on the prosecutions of Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith over allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents and tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat,
but it did not have a direct role in prosecuting the cases.
Smith, who declined a request for comment,
dropped both matters when Trump won a second term in office.
The unit´s Election Threats Task Force also investigated a wave
of violent threats by Trump supporters against
election workers that arose after Trump falsely claimed the 2020
presidential election was stolen from him. More than a
dozen cases were prosecuted.
After Trump returned to power in January, the Public
Integrity Section quickly came under pressure as two cases involving
prominent politicians show.
In the first weeks of the new administration, Public Integrity attorneys clashed with Martin after the staunch
Trump supporter was appointed interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Martin, a lawyer for defendants in the 2021 Capitol riots,
wanted to charge U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
with making a criminal threat five years ago. In 2020, the New York Democrat said in a
speech that conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices
would “pay the price” for curtailing abortion rights
Schumer expressed regret the next day and said he had no intention of suggesting violence.
In February, attorneys in Martin´s office advised the Public Integrity
Section, as required, that he wanted to subpoena Schumer, said the three
people familiar with the department´s operations. The unit opposed the plan, arguing in a memo to senior Justice Department officials
that Schumer´s remark was constitutionally protected political speech
and there was no legal or factual basis to investigate him,
they added.
Martin appealed to the deputy attorney general´s office, noting he had drafted an indictment and criticizing what he viewed as the Public Integrity Section´s
recalcitrance, the three sources said. Martin lost the argument and the case died.
In an interview with Reuters, Martin downplayed the conflict with the
Public Integrity Section and described the episode as “a helpful process.” “Schumer had not done something that could be chargeable,” he said.
He declined to comment on whether he had drafted an indictment and tried to override the unit.
The second case involving a prominent politician came three months later.
By then, the Public Integrity Section was powerless.
On May 9, U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver and two other Democratic members of Congress from New Jersey turned up at an immigration detention center for a congressional oversight visit, which is permitted under federal law.
The Democratic mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, briefly joined them inside the facility´s gated perimeter but was ordered to leave by federal agents.
In a chaotic scrum outside the perimeter, as federal officers moved to arrest Baraka on trespassing charges, McIver’s elbows appeared to make brief contact with an officer, according to the criminal complaint brought by the U.S.
Attorney´s office in New Jersey against McIver and video of
the incident. The complaint also accused McIver of shoving a
second officer. No one was reported injured in the scuffle.
On May 19, the acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, dropped the trespassing case against Baraka but charged McIver,
a vocal Trump critic, with two counts of assaulting and
impeding a law enforcement officer. Announcing the charges against McIver, Habba said: “No one is above the law – politicians or otherwise.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, a longtime Trump ally, issued
a statement saying the decision to charge McIver followed “a thorough review of the video footage.”
The Justice Department´s
manual for investigations of elected officials
sets a high standard for such cases. To prevent politically motivated
charges against members of Congress, prosecutors must seek “prior approval” from Public Integrity Section attorneys on “any criminal charge,” the manual says.
But Habba didn´t consult with or seek approval from
the Public Integrity Section before filing her case in federal court, said two of the people familiar with
the department´s operations. The
Washington Post reported
on May 17 that the department was considering whether to end the consultation requirement.
But the suspension had been implemented for about a week by then, the people who spoke with Reuters said.
Habba, a former personal lawyer to Trump, told Reuters that
she “coordinated closely with (Justice) Department leadership every step of the way.” She did not respond to a
question about whether she sought approval from the Public Integrity Section for the McIver charges.
Habba said Reuters´ reporting about the case is incorrect but declined to offer specifics.
McIver, who denies wrongdoing, told Reuters her prosecution reveals how changes at the Department of Justice are “making abuse of power easier.” Her lawyer,
Paul Fishman, called the charges “spectacularly inappropriate” and said members of Congress have “the right and responsibility” to assess conditions at
immigration facilities. A preliminary hearing is
scheduled for June 11.
“A normal Department of Justice would never have suggested, `Hey, we have a case here,´” said Peter Zeidenberg, who spent seven years as a Public
Integrity Section prosecutor. After reviewing video of the incident,
he described the McIver indictment as “transparently political” because
the assault charges appear unsupported by facts.
WHIRLWIND OF RESIGNATIONS
The Trump administration began reining in the Public Integrity Section well before the McIver case.
On January 20, the day of Trump´s inauguration, more than a dozen senior Justice Department attorneys –
including Public Integrity Section chief Corey Amundson – were
ordered to move to a new “Sanctuary Cities Working Group.” It was
tasked with gathering information on cities that
resist Trump´s mass deportation orders for migrants in the U.S.
illegally.
Amundson didn´t move; he quit. A 23-year Justice Department
veteran appointed during Trump´s first term to run the Public Integrity
Section, he was among the first in a series of resignations and reassignments that stripped
the office of people, power and responsibilities.
The hollowing out accelerated after former Trump personal attorney
Emil Bove, then acting deputy attorney general, ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors in a February 10 memo to dismiss a corruption case
against Eric Adams, the New York mayor. Bove did not respond to a request for comment.
Adams had aligned himself more closely with Trump after being
charged in September last year with taking bribes and illegal contributions.
Adams denies the charges. Bove´s memo said the case was the type of Biden-era politicized prosecution Trump wanted to quash and that the administration needed Adams´ support for
its immigration crackdown.
That order prompted four Public Integrity Section attorneys to resign in a single day, including its acting chief,
John Keller. A supervisor from the criminal division also left.
A month later, on March 11, a senior manager relayed a
message from Justice Department leaders that the Public
Integrity Section faced further staff cuts and would no longer
bring new prosecutions, said the three people familiar with
the department´s operations. “The Titanic was sinking,”
stunned colleagues joked among themselves.
Today, the remaining staff are working through at least 10 ongoing cases,
according to court filings. Former supervisors´ offices are empty at the unit´s
Washington D.C. headquarters. Attorneys from at least one other section have started claiming open desks.
“It’s like the village of the damned,” said one of the sources who is familiar
with the current mood.
“WEAPONIZATION”
With the Public Integrity Section marginalized, Trump is ramping up
pardons of public figures convicted in cases brought by its attorneys,
helping allies and supporters who have echoed his claims of being persecuted by
the Justice Department under Biden.
Of more than two dozen people who have received pardons or commutations since March,
four have been in cases brought by the Public Integrity Section, a historically high
number, including one who was indicted during Trump´s first term.
Among the four is
a former Virginia sheriff
convicted last year on federal bribery charges. Another
is a Las Vegas Councilwoman convicted of fraud last October after paying for personal expenses,
including rent, travel and her daughter´s wedding, with money she raised to build statues
for two slain police officers. Both were ardent Trump
supporters who the president characterized as victims
of biased Biden-era prosecutions.
One recent pardon came after Justice Department leaders received a letter
from the lawyers of Brian Kelsey, a former Republican state senator in Tennessee who reported to
prison in late February. Kelsey was indicted in 2021 and pleaded guilty the following year to conspiracy to defraud the federal government for illegally funneling money
to his failed 2016 congressional bid. The Public Integrity Section and
the U.S. Attorney´s office in Nashville prosecuted the case.
The letter from Kelsey´s lawyers, which is previously unreported, accused the prosecutors of misconduct, alleging they were “anti-Republican,” among other claims, according to a person with direct
knowledge of Kelsey´s case. Two of the four
prosecutors declined comment; two others
did not respond to questions.
On March 11, Trump pardoned Kelsey, 47, after he had served two weeks of his 21-month sentence.
“God used Donald Trump to save me from the weaponized Biden DOJ,” Kelsey wrote
on X, referring to the Justice Department. Reuters could not determine if the letter contributed to Kelsey´s
pardon. Kelsey did not respond to questions
about his case.
In contrast, Reuters could identify only one defendant in a
Public Integrity case pardoned during Biden´s four-year term: former Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Jerry
Lundergan, 78, who was convicted in 2019 for illegal corporate donations
to his daughter´s 2014 Democratic campaign for a U.S.
Senate seat. Lundergan was serving a 21-month sentence when he was freed on compassionate
grounds due to old age and poor health, court records show.
Citing that and his post-prison community service, Biden pardoned him on his last day in office, at least two years after he was released.
But Biden faced withering criticism at the end of his term when he also pardoned his son, Hunter, who
had pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges.
Hunter was prosecuted by a U.S. Attorney who began his probe during Trump´s first term and was appointed as
a special counsel under Biden to continue the investigation.
The Public Integrity Section was consulted on the probe, according to one
of the people familiar with the department and an additional person with
knowledge of the case. But the unit had no direct role in the prosecutions.
Biden had promised not to pardon his son, but later justified the
move, claiming Hunter was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted.”
Currently, defendants in at least five other public corruption cases handled by the Public Integrity unit
are seeking pardons or dismissals, according to
a review of public statements, court filings and interviews with
one of the people familiar with the department´s operations and two others close to the
defendants.
Those and other cases will be reviewed by Ed Martin, the lawyer who now leads the Weaponization Working Group.
A longtime Republican activist in Missouri, Martin helped lead the “Stop the Steal” movement to overturn the 2020 election for Trump.
The Weaponization Working Group will review cases against Trump brought by local, state and federal prosecutors and tackle “abuses of the criminal justice process,” Attorney General Bondi said in a Feb.
5
memo
.
Trump also appointed Martin pardon attorney, a traditionally nonpartisan job that reviews clemency applications.
It does not issue pardons but makes recommendations to the White House.
It´s typically been occupied by a career Justice Department attorney – rather than a
political appointee – to ensure pardons are conducted without
favoritism.
On May 22, Peter Ticktin, a Florida lawyer and longtime Trump ally, delivered a pardon application to Martin for Jonathan Woods, a former Republican state senator in Arkansas convicted of a
bribery and kickback scheme in 2018, during Trump´s first term.
He is serving an 18-year prison sentence in a case that was prosecuted by the Public Integrity
Section.
In his appeal for a pardon, Woods said he was targeted because he is an “outspoken conservative” with
“Christian values,” Ticktin told Reuters, reading from the application.
Asked why the Woods case began under Trump, Ticktin argued that Trump “didn´t have control over everything” in his
first term. He added that Jack Smith, who headed the Public Integrity Section from 2010 to 2015, had compromised
the unit through overzealous prosecutions.
As the transformation of the Public Integrity Section hobbles
its ability to pursue future cases, and the wave of pardons undoes past convictions, some former Justice Department staff are bracing for a loss of law-enforcement independence.
“The true weaponization is beginning now,” said Randall Eliason, a former Assistant U.S.
Attorney in Washington D.C. specializing in corruption under both Democratic
and Republican administrations. (Editing by Jason Szep )
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PowerChina unit claims $555 mln in unpaid dues
*
EdL has yet to respond to the filing
*
Case relates to Laos’ Nam Ou hydropower project
March 5 (Reuters) – Nam Ou Power, a unit of state-owned Power Construction Corp of
China, has sued Laos utility Electricite du Laos in Singapore for $555 million in unpaid
dues from a hydropower project it operates, an arbitration filing reviewed by Reuters shows.
EdL has yet to respond to the filing, according to a source familiar with the case, who also said that it was the first instance of international arbitration by a Chinese state-run entity against a Laos government-run firm.
The person declined to be identified as the matter is not public.
Details of the case are being reported for the first time.
The unpaid dues claimed arise from electricity generated from the $2.73 billion Nam Ou River Cascade
Hydropower project, according to a filing with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.
The Nam Ou project, one of Laos’ largest that accounts for 7% of the country’s 18 gigawatts of hydropower
capacity, is a part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative to build trade and transport links across Asia and beyond.
Western critics have said significant investments by China in countries struggling
to repay loans have helped it to gain a strategic advantage, which China rejects.
PowerChina and EdL did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.
Wong & Leow, a law firm representing Nam Ou Power, declined comment.
Operated by Nam Ou Power, part of PowerChina, the hydroelectric project has a capacity
of 1.27 gigawatts from its seven cascades along
350 km (217 miles) of river in the landlocked,
mountainous country of nearly eight million people.
China’s foreign ministry, energy regulator and commerce ministries also did not respond to requests seeking comment.
INVESTING IN HYDROPOWER
Laos has spent heavily on hydroelectric schemes, many financed by its
northern neighbour China, with the aim of becoming “the battery of Southeast Asia” by exporting
electricity to neighbouring countries.
Those projects, along with a Chinese-built high-speed railway have caused high levels
of debt.
In its filing last month with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, PowerChina said EdL owed it $486.27 million in dues plus interest it estimates at $65.79 million. The claims are associated with monthly
invoices made between January 2020 and December 2024.
The total is equivalent to about 4% of Laos’ gross domestic product.
EdL ceded majority control of its transmission unit to
state-owned China Southern Power Grid Co in 2020, as mounting
debt, combined with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic strained
public finances and pushed Laos to the brink of a sovereign default.
Nam Ou, in the same filing, claimed damages of $3.02 million for EdL predominantly paying its dues using the Lao kip currency, while the agreement had stipulated
that 85% of the payments be made with the U.S.
dollar.
Laos has struggled with hyperinflation and fast depleting foreign exchange reserves since the pandemic, with the value of the
Lao kip plunging nearly three-fifths over the last five years.
(Reporting by Reuters staff; Editing by Sharon Singleton and
Barbara Lewis)
Do you have any video of that? I’d love to find out
more details.