RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/william-barr-declassification-authority-debate/

The media panic notwithstanding, the buck still stops with the president.

L ast week, President Trump conferred on Attorney General Bill Barr the authority to declassify documents relevant to his inquiry into what we can collectively call “the Russia investigation.” This includes not only “Crossfire Hurricane,” the counterintelligence probe formally opened by the FBI in late July 2016, but all of the relevant investigative threads, including those pursued by other intelligence agencies — such as the CIA’s collaborations with foreign intelligence services, beginning in 2015.

In other words, the public is about to learn a lot more about decision-making during the Obama administration. As night follows day, the Democrat-media complex went apoplectic. Gone are the days when the press always wanted more information because it perceived its role, vouchsafed by the Constitution, to be the public’s eye on government.

Much of the mainstream media is now in an all but openly declared partnership with one of our two major political parties. Consequently, when a Republican administration is in power or being questioned, classified leaks are the order of the day. When a Democratic administration is under the microscope, we get lectures on the wages of compromising intelligence secrets, especially methods and sources.

So, naturally, we are treated to hysterical reports that the attorney general — whose Justice Department cannot enforce the law effectively unless it can entice cooperation from reluctant sources — is going to expose covert operatives gratuitously, ensuring that no courageous spy or foreign intelligence service will ever risk cooperation with the United States again.

It is an absurd narrative.

https://nypost.com/2019/05/27/amazon-is-reportedly-eyeing-office-space-on-manhattans-west-side/

Amazon may have bid farewell to Queens, but it still “hearts” the Big Apple.

After walking away from a deal to build a headquarters on the Queens waterfront in Long Island City, Amazon is back to shopping for office space on Manhattan’s West Side, sources tell The Post.

The tech giant has been in talks with owners of two shiny, new skyscrapers located just one block west of Penn Station: The newly built One Manhattan West and its soon-to-be sister project Two Manhattan West, sources tell The Post.

The online retailer is seeking “at least 100,000 square feet or much more” — just to start, one well-placed source said.

Amazon, which already has 5,000 workers in NYC, had been “seriously” looking at Two Manhattan West prior to choosing Long Island City in November, a second source said. “That interest has returned over the last few weeks,” the source added.

Brookfield, which owns the two Manhattan West towers (and another at 5 Manhattan West where Amazon is already a tenant), denied through a spokesman that it was leasing to the Seattle company. But multiple sources pointed to the company’s strict confidentiality agreements as a potential reason.

“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation,” an Amazon spokeswoman said.

At Two Manhattan West, Amazon is eyeing space at the top the tower, sources said. The only issue is the building, to be located on 31st Street and 9th Ave., won’t be ready for tenants until 2022.

One Manhattan West, by contrast, will be ready for tenants to move in this fall, including a 250,000-square-foot space in the middle of the 67-story tower. The 250,000-square-foot space won’t be available long-term, but could satisfy Amazon’s space needs until Two Manhattan is ready, sources said.

https://amgreatness.com/2019/05/27/comeys-fbi-ignored-sexual-abuse-victims-to-pursue-political-foes/

As the political world anticipates an internal Justice Department review of misconduct by James Comey’s FBI related to the Trump campaign probe, hundreds of American parents await another report: Why Comey’s FBI delayed an investigation into one of the country’s most notorious child sex abusers, former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. The Michigan State University osteopathic physician now is serving a 100-year minimum prison sentence for numerous crimes, including sexual assault of minors, sexual assault, and possession of child pornography.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department’s inspector general is looking into how the FBI handled the initial sexual abuse allegations made against Nassar in 2015 and 2016.

“The gymnasts’ complaints languished for at least nine months before an FBI office opened a formal investigation,” the Journal reported. “In their probe of the bureau’s handling of the matter, Justice Department investigators have conducted interviews with several people, including athletes and gymnastics officials. The investigation could lead to disciplinary action and criminal charges.”

Lawmakers also have questions. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray with questions related to the agency’s handling of the case in 2015 and 2016. “We have met several gymnasts who expressed concern about FBI delays in responding to their allegations against Nassar,” they wrote in July. “Our staffs have also reached out to the FBI for information related to these requests, but were not provided any information.”