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50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

FEC Still Refuses To Investigate Alleged $84 Million Clinton Campaign Money Laundering By Margot Cleveland

http://thefederalist.com/2019/02/13/fec-still-refuses-investigate-alleged-84-million-clinton-campaign-money-laundering/

Tuesday evening the Committee to Defend the President (CDP) filed a motion in a D.C. federal court seeking to supplement the complaint it had filed against the Federal Election Committee (FEC) in April 2018. In its original complaint, the CDP alleged that the agency responsible for enforcing campaign-finance law failed to act on an administrative complaint the CDP had filed with the FEC. That complaint charged that, during the 2016 presidential election, Democrats illegally funneled approximately $84 million through the Hillary Victory Fund to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which then illegally coordinated with the Hillary Clinton campaign.

To understand the alleged scheme requires familiarity with controlling campaign-finance law and campaign contribution limits. As I explained at the time CDP sued the FEC last April:

Under federal law, ‘an individual donor can contribute $2,700 to any candidate, $10,000 to any state party committee, and (during the 2016 cycle) $33,400 to a national party’s main account. These groups can all get together and take a single check from a donor for the sum of those contribution limits—it’s legal because the donor cannot exceed the base limit for any one recipient. And state parties can make unlimited transfer to their national party.’

This legal loophole allows ‘bundlers’ to raise large sums of money from wealthy donors—more than $400,000 at a time—filtering the funds to the national committees. Democrats and Republicans alike exploit this tactic. But once the money reaches the national committees, other limits apply.

Senate has uncovered no direct evidence of conspiracy between Trump campaign and Russia “We were never going to find a contract signed in blood saying, ‘Hey Vlad, we’re going to collude,'” one Democratic aide said.By Ken Dilanian

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-has-uncovered-no-direct-evidence-conspiracy-between-trump-campaign-n970536

After two years and 200 interviews, the Senate Intelligence Committee is approaching the end of its investigation into the 2016 election, having uncovered no direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to both Democrats and Republicans on the committee.

But investigators disagree along party lines when it comes to the implications of a pattern of contacts they have documented between Trump associates and Russians — contacts that occurred before, during and after Russian intelligence operatives were seeking to help Donald Trump by leaking hacked Democratic emails and attacking his opponent, Hillary Clinton, on social media.

“If we write a report based upon the facts that we have, then we don’t have anything that would suggest there was collusion by the Trump campaign and Russia,” said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in an interview with CBS News last week.

Borking Neomi Rao written by Heather Mac Donald

https://quillette.com/2019/02/12/

At the height of the #MeToo ferment over Judge Brett Kavanaugh, hundreds of Harvard and Yale law students shut down their classes to protest Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The students demanded that Kavanaugh’s sexual assault accusers be believed unconditionally, simply on the basis of having made an uncorroborated accusation.

Many of these elite law students will end up as judges. Yet the media cheered them on, even though their rejection of the presumption of innocence, if carried to the bench, would demolish a cornerstone of Anglo-American jurisprudence.

However, if you argue that female college students have agency to prevent many cases of what feminists label as campus rape then you have unfitted yourself for a judicial career, according to a large segment of the media and the political class. Last week, Democratic Senator and presidential contender Kamala Harris contemptuously grilled a judicial nominee for having written that female students can control whether or not they get drunk, the usual prelude to the hook-up sex that the campus rape industry routinely classifies as rape. Neomi Rao, whom President Trump has selected to fill Brett Kavanaugh’s now-vacant seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, penned several op-eds as a Yale undergraduate questioning the idea that females are always helpless victims of the male libido, unable to avoid regretted dorm room sex. Rao’s treatment on Capitol Hill suggests that fealty to the narrative of perpetual female victimhood is fast becoming a prerequisite for a judgeship.

Dems’ Struggle With ‘MeToo’ Charges Extends to California . By Susan Crabtree

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/02/12/dems_struggle_with_metoo_charges_extends_to_california_139447.html

Nearly a week has passed since the first of two sexual-assault charges surfaced against Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, and national Democratic leaders are still grappling with how to respond amid the fallout.

But that fallout is not limited to the Old Dominion, nor to the 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls who were quick to weigh in on the burgeoning scandal in Richmond. It has spread from coast to coast and is now roiling the politics here in Southern California as well.

Over the weekend, calls for Fairfax’s resignation continued to stream in, as did similar demands days earlier when a medical school yearbook surfaced with racist images on the page of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. Democrats were quick to urge Northam to step down only to be confronted with a dilemma when rape accusations from credible-sounding accusers were leveled at Fairfax – the Democrat poised to take over from Northam. Some Democrats adhered to standards they’d adopted in previous cases – that is to say, when Republicans were accused – while others have not. California Sen. Kamala Harris, an announced presidential aspirant, unequivocally urged the lieutenant governor to resign, as did her Senate colleague Kirsten Gillibrand, who is also considering a run for her party’s 2020 nomination. Gillibrand termed the allegations “sickening and horrendous.”

But a Democrat-led effort to impeach Fairfax over the allegations fizzled on Sunday night when members of the Virginia House of Delegates held a conference call in which several members suggested hitting the brakes on such an irreversible, career-ending move.

Antifa Thug Worked for Chief DNC Trainer From Democrat insider to likely jailbird, Joseph Alcoff has come a long way. Matthew Vadum

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272846/antifa-thug-worked-chief-dnc-trainer-matthew-vadum

An activist now charged with assaulting two U.S. Marines as part of an Antifa mob has ties to Heather Booth, a senior Democrat and chief DNC trainer who founded a training academy devoted to the teachings of the late pro-violence community organizing guru Saul Alinsky.

This is yet more proof that Antifa, the anti-fascist coalition that uses heavy-handed fascist tactics, is becoming closely integrated with the Democratic Party, many of whose activists support its goal of overthrowing the government of the United States by force. (I executive-produced a three-part documentary series, America Under Siege, about Antifa and other political actors.)

Joseph Alcoff, 37, is facing charges in Philadelphia including aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation for allegedly attacking two Marines of Latino ancestry, Alejandro Godinez and Luis Torres, Fred Lucas reports at Fox News. Alcoff and two others charged in the melee have entered not guilty pleas. The beatings took place during a Proud Boys rally that was protested by Antifa. The victims, who say the perpetrators screamed racial slurs during the attack, say they were not aware of the rally.

It has been reported that Alcoff worked as the anti-payday lending campaign manager for the labor-backed leftist coalition group, Americans for Financial Reform, even while he participated in violent Antifa actions. Americans for Financial Reform, by the way, advocates an economy-crushing “financial speculation tax” on all Wall Street trading activity involving financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, derivatives, futures, options, and credit default swaps.

McConnell: Senate to Vote on Green New Deal So Lawmakers Can ‘Go on Record’ By Jack Crowe

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/mcconnell-senate-will-vote-on-green-new-deal-so-all-lawmakers-can-go-on-record/

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday that the Senate will vote on the Green New Deal resolution introduced last week by a coalition of progressive lawmakers vowing to eliminate all greenhouse-gas emissions within ten years, while simultaneously creating millions of jobs in a government-subsidized green-energy sector.

“I’ve noted with great interest the Green New Deal. And we’re going to be voting on that in the Senate. Give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal,” McConnell said with a sly smile during a Tuesday press conference.

The resolution, which was introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Senator Ed Markey (D., Mass.) on Friday, provides a sweeping list of climate-change- and social-justice-related measures including the refurbishing of every structure in the country with renewable-energy technology and the creation of millions of federally funded jobs in the green-energy sector.

A “frequently asked questions” document that accompanied the resolution referenced the complete elimination of air travel and farting cows. Ocasio-Cortez has since disavowed the FAQ, which was posted on her website, and suggested her political enemies disseminated the document to sabotage the proposal.

Marc Lamont Hill To Speak at Fundraiser for Group Whose Leaders Aided Hamas By Hesham Shehab

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/marc-lamont-hill-to-speak-at-fundraiser-for-group-whose-leaders-aided-hamas/

In March, recently fired CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill will be the keynote speaker for a Chicago-based group the Israeli government recently declared to be “terrorists in suits.”

Hill, who was fired by CNN following a speech at the United Nations where he used the anti-Israel eliminationist rhetoric “from the river to the sea,” will speak at a fundraising event for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Founded in 2005, AMP promotes extreme anti-Israel views and has provided a platform for anti-Semitism. The organization seeks to delegitimize and demonize the Jewish state, and plays a leading role in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the United States. AMP campaigns have depicted Israel as an apartheid state and have called for an end to American aid to Israel.

A report published by the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs just this month noted that leaders and senior members of AMP were involved, directly and indirectly, in providing funding assistance to Hamas.

The report added that the funding activity took place through the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) and the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), an organization the U.S. government alleges was set up to provide propaganda services for Hamas. Formerly the largest Islamic charity in the United States, HLF and five of its directors were convicted of multiple terrorism-related charges, including material support for terror.

The report concluded that leading figures in HLF and IAP subsequently joined AMP, and now hold senior positions in the organization.

PRESIDENT TRUMP ON ILHAN OMAR

President Trump on Rep. @IlhanMN:https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1095382455735988225

“Her lame apology, and that’s what it was, it was lame, and she didn’t mean a word of it was just not appropriate. I think she should resign from Congress.”

Trump tax returns: House Democrats ready for ultimate fishing expedition by Byron York

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-trump-tax-returns-house-dems-ready-for-ultimate-fishing-expedition

Yes, Democrats want to start a new investigation into already-under-investigation Trump-Russia allegations. And yes, they want to investigate Trump associates like Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, and others. But by far the biggest thing Democrats want, now that they have the majority in the House, is to get their hands on the president’s tax returns.

House Democrats want to use a 1924 law that allows any one of three entities — the House Ways & Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, or the Joint Committee on Taxation — to demand that the Treasury Department turn over the returns of any individual. Passed in the wake of the Teapot Dome scandal and controversy over the finances of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, the law has almost never been used. For the first 50 years of the law’s existence, no one tried to get a president’s returns — although the law played a role in the fight over Richard Nixon’s finances — and in the years since Gerald Ford took office, presidents have voluntarily made their returns public. Until Donald Trump.

Eugene Kontorovich:For the ACLU, Antipathy to Israel Trumps Antidiscrimination Laws against boycotting the Jewish state are patterned after those that protect gays and lesbians.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-the-aclu-antipathy-to-israel-trumps-antidiscrimination-11549928620

Identity politics guides its adherents in strange directions. The American Civil Liberties Union, which for decades defended the vulnerable against public discrimination, has begun an assault on several antidiscrimination laws. Its goal is to bring boycotts of Israel into the political mainstream.

The ACLU’s latest target is the Combatting BDS Act, which passed the Senate last week 77-23. The bill is quite modest compared with the anti-BDS measures enacted in 26 states in recent years, which the ACLU is also challenging. Those laws prohibit state contracts with, and investment in, companies that boycott Israel-connected firms. The federal Combating BDS Act would simply declare that the state laws don’t violate U.S. foreign policy.

Despite the bipartisan support the bill enjoyed in the Senate and overwhelming approval of the underlying state legislation, it faces a difficult road in the House, where radical Democrats are united against it.

The ACLU is providing political cover to Democrats who oppose the laws by claiming they raise constitutional problems. It has brought lawsuits in three states, arguing that the First Amendment protects firms’ right to boycott certain clients. In the litigation, the ACLU claims that “the state cannot condition government contracts” on a company’s refusals to do business with private parties for “political” motives. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has also brought two such lawsuits.