[DAILYCALLER] Former West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Allen Loughry surrendered at a federal prison facility in South Carolina Friday, where he will serve a two-year sentence for crimes relating to a sweeping public corruption scandal.
A federal judge sentenced the disgraced ex-justice in February, following his conviction for wire fraud, mail fraud and lying to federal Sherlocks.
In addition to criminal penalties, Loughry was disbarred from legal practice, agreed never to seek public office again and paid fines totaling $12,000.
Local press accounts of lavish renovations at the state Supreme Court set off an audit of the justice’s spending practices. That inquiry discovered that Loughry and another justice, Menis Ketchum, used state resources for personal purposes. A federal investigation followed, leading to a battery of criminal charges against Loughry and Ketchum.
Among other offenses, Sherlocks discovered that Loughry collected compensation from a law school for travel expenses he had not incurred and removed a state-owned antique desk from a public facility to his private residence. The famed architect Cass Gilbert designed the desk, the estimated value of which is $40,000.
Loughry is the author of a lengthy history of political corruption in West Virginia called "Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay For A Landslide."
The spending scandal set off a constitutional crisis in West Virginia. Loughry and Ketchum left judicial service and were convicted of financial crimes in federal court. A third justice, Robin Jean Davis, resigned to avoid a prospective impeachment. The Daily Caller News Foundation identified evidence of a possible straw donation scheme to Davis’s 2012 re-election campaign, prompting an investigation from the West Virginia secretary of state.
The state Legislature impeached the remaining two justices, Margaret Workman and Beth Walker.
Walker subsequently contested the impeachment before a specially composed judicial panel. That panel issued an injunction barring an impeachment trial, concluding the Legislature exceeded its authority with respect to Walker’s removal.
Both Walker and Workman remain in office. GOP Gov. Jim Justice appointed Justices Tim Armstead, Evan Jenkins and John Hutchison to the seats vacated by Ketchum, Davis and Loughry.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2019 00:00 ||
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Not a word about party affiliation.
Posted by: Herb Splat3547 ||
04/08/2019 3:46 Comments ||
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Like the clown (also a repub) who used campaign money to make his office look like a set from Downton Abbey. WTF is wrong with these people? Time to give all elected officials a cubical with a used metal desk and an ugly fluorescent lamp in it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/08/2019 8:49 Comments ||
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Pub gets caught up in swamp-draining at the state level. Dems circle the wagon while Pubs purge the Party. He started to go wrong when he got an undergraduate journalism degree and then a law degree. Fiction and law are not good bed mates. The forwards in his book were written by Robert Byrd and John McCain. Not exactly ringing endorsements for the book.
[Diplomad] Almost eighteen months ago, I wrote a little post which noted that the progs had become,
engaged in a great debate about the remarks President Trump supposedly made along the lines of "why do we get so many immigrants from sh*thole countries?" Did he or didn't he say it? Not clear. White House denials have been, in my view, masterfully evasive almost as though if he didn't say it, he would like credit for having said it but yet maintain plausible deniability that he did. The progs and many international capitals have taken the bait, and now thrash furiously on yet another Trump hook. Wheels within wheels with this President; we should not forget that this indeed is a president who plays 4-D chess; he has an amazing ability, an unparalleled ability, to troll the progs, make them explode in outrage and, thereby, reveal the slimy hypocrisy that flows though their scaly bodies.
That hypocrisy continues to flow and gush as we debate--screaming match, really--immigration policies not just in the USA, but throughout the Western world. Here at home, our increasingly deranged and leftist Dem party inexorably has moved to the Open Borders position that their toxic logic on immigration requires--just as they now endorse infanticide as their logic on abortion requires.
We have Senator Kamala "Sleep My Way to the Top" Harris, for example, "welcoming" all "immigrants"--including those now considered illegal. Beto "DUI" O'Rourke proclaims that as President he would order all border barriers torn down--they pose a menace to drunk drivers, perhaps?--no word on whether those at his house or a Beto-occupied White House also would go. Elizabeth "1/1024" Warren, and other progs, want to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Now, to put the cherry on the ICE-ing, we have a Demo candidate for President, Julian Castro, a former Mayor of San Antonio, as well as a former Obama cabinet official, calling for decriminalizing all border crossing. Yes, come on in! The more the better! No limits! Free stuff!
All the candidates support tax-supported welfare programs for "migrants," oppose deportation, and certainly have no objection to aliens voting in our elections--on the contrary, they live here, right? Sign'em up. In addition, let's do away with the Electoral College, and have voting by mail and email to ensure every vote in Tijuana, Dhaka, and San Pedro Sula counts! Make America the Great Souk! The Tower of Babel/Babble coming to your neighborhood!
#1
Once you understand they want the dissolution of the United States and its Constitution and the imposition of a Peoples' Democratic Republic, you understand who they are. QUIT calling them liberals. They are not. They're international socialists, which we from the 50-60s called commies.
#2
Yes, P2k. Joe Stalin gave communists a bad name so now they call themselves Democrats.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/08/2019 10:34 Comments ||
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We should reinstitute a form of imperialism under the UN. Any nation that has lived on handouts for over a decade becomes a protectorate and their government is removed and replaced by something.
The only problem is the UN is a nightmare of corruption that can't be trusted.
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., announced on Sunday he is ready to send eight criminal referrals to the Justice Department next week related to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.
"We're prepared this week to notify the attorney general that we're prepared to send those referrals over and brief him if he wishes to be briefed," Nunes said on Fox News.
The ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee has been teasing a referral of Justice Department and FBI officials for months and previously predicted its delivery by the end of last week.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... Nunes backed away from that deadline, hinting that his team of Sherlocks found more people, potentially up to two dozen, who could be connected to a criminal referral. Nunes said on "Sunday Morning Futures" that the people ensnared in his eight-person referral "may not be all of them."
Nunes did not disclose any names, but he did break down three categories in which they fall.
"Five of them are what I would call straight up referrals so just referrals that are, that name someone and name the specific crimes. Those crimes are lying to Congress, misleading Congress, leaking classified information," Nunes said.
The other three, he said are more complicated, related to charges of conspiracy to lie to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
"There are three that I think are more complicated so you mentioned conspiracy. So the question on conspiracy is what, there's the conspiracy statute, and then what do they need to look at under that statute. So on the first one, is FISA abuse and other matters we believe there is a conspiracy to lie to the FISA Court, mislead the FISA court by numerous individuals that all need to be investigative and looked at," Nunes said. "The second conspiracy one is involving manipulation of intelligence. That also could [involve many] many Americans and we are, so that's kind of the second one. As you know, we've had a lot of concerns with the way intelligence was used."
How exciting! I can’t wait to find out who is about to enjoy the distinct pleasures of legal Hell.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2019 00:00 ||
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Nunes said this could go deeper. I can think of more than 8 who lied to Congress. I was beginning to think it was de rigueur for testifying before Congress as there were no consequences for lying.
Of course it could! Washington is an ant farm devoid of confidentiality and secrets. The Uniparty membership know exactly what took place, their curiosity is Kabuki theater at it's finest.
[THEHILL] Ukrainian law enforcement officials believe they have evidence of wrongdoing by American Democrats and their allies in Kiev, ranging from 2016 election interference to obstructing criminal probes. But, they say, they’ve been thwarted in trying to get the Trump Justice Department to act.
Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of the Prosecutor General’s International Legal Cooperation Department, told me he and other senior law enforcement officials tried unsuccessfully since last year to get visas from the U.S. embassy in Kiev to deliver their evidence to Washington.
"We were supposed to share this information during a working trip to the United States," Kulyk told me in a wide-ranging interview. "However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... the (U.S.) ambassador blocked us from obtaining a visa. She didn’t explicitly deny our visa, but also didn’t give it to us."
One focus of Ukrainian Sherlocks, Kulyk said, has been money spirited unlawfully out of Ukraine and moved to the United States by businessmen friendly to the prior, pro-Russia regime of Viktor Yanukovych.
Ukrainian businessmen "authorized payments for lobbying efforts directed at the U.S. government," he told me. "In addition, these payments were made from funds that were acquired during the money-laundering operation. We have information that a U.S. company was involved in these payments." That company is tied to one or more prominent Democrats, Ukrainian officials insist.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2019 00:00 ||
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Obama appointed and "Former Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who was at the time House Rules Committee chairman, voiced concerns about Yovanovitch in a letter to the State Department last year in which he said he had proof the ambassador had spoken of her “disdain” for the Trump administration". She is one that should have been removed. One of the special elites.
[FreeBeacon] Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D., N.M.) on Sunday denied that there is a national security crisis at the southern border and suggested President Donald Trump is claiming there is a border crisis to distract voters.
During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Lujan defended his previous comment that there was not a crisis at the border and blamed Trump for the problems he admitted are occurring.
"Six weeks ago you said this wasn't a crisis. Do you still believe that?" host Bill Hemmer asked.
"Look, this is not the national security crisis that the president continues to describe. There is a humanitarian crisis, but it's created by President Donald Trump. When you go back to the threats even during the midterms, the president was suggesting that there was an immediate national security crisis and he sent troops to the border just to try to distract the American people with the gains that we were going to see in the midterms," Lujan said.
[FoxNews] He was told 10 days ago to prepare an exit plan.
Secret Service director Randolph ‘Tex’ Alles to step down, on heels of Nielsen resignation.
“United States Secret Service director Randolph 'Tex' Alles has done a great job at the agency over the last two years, and the President is thankful for his over 40 years of service to the country," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a brief statement Monday.
She said that Trump has picked career Secret Service member James M. Murray to take over the agency in May. Alles will remain in his role until then.
#1
Regarding the Chinese lady who was apprehended at Mar-a-Lago. She has had no problem before getting next to Trump.
When pressed on why she was really at Mar-a-Lago, Zhang allegedly told Secret Service agents that a mysterious friend she referred to only as “Charles” texted her on WeChat, a popular Chinese messaging app, told her about the Mar-a-Lago event and urged her to attend. Secret Service personnel were unable to locate or identify “Charles.”
The Miami Herald suggested that Zhang may have intended to attend one of two events once scheduled at Mar-a-Lago for that date—a "Safari Night" put on by the Young Adventurers charity group and an International Leaders Elite Forum event which advertised President Trump’s sister Elizabeth Trump Grau as the host.
Both events were promoted by Cindy Yang, a Florida businesswoman who owned the massage parlor where Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution. Yang posed for photos with President Trump and senior Republican officials and has held a number of events at Mar-a-Lago for Chinese clients looking for access to the Trump family and administration officials.
Posted by: Neville Dark Lord of the Wee Folk7365 ||
04/08/2019 15:20 Comments ||
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#2
Correction. An associate of hers has had no problem getting near Trump.
Posted by: Neville Dark Lord of the Wee Folk7365 ||
04/08/2019 15:28 Comments ||
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With those ears he should be out on a listening post somewhere.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[DAILYCALLER] Former West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Allen Loughry surrendered at a federal prison facility in South Carolina Friday, where he will serve a two-year sentence for crimes relating to a sweeping public corruption scandal.
