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For Thurs. Dec. 21, 2017
~All Gave Some~Some Gave
Prosecutors ask FBI agents for info on Uranium One deal
by TOM WINTER, PETE WILLIAMS and KEN DILANIAN
Hillary Clinton speaks in Los Angeles on Dec. 15. Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
On the orders of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Justice Department prosecutors have begun asking FBI agents to explain the evidence they found in a now dormant criminal investigation into a controversial uranium deal that critics have linked to Bill and Hillary Clinton, multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News.
The interviews with FBI agents are part of the Justice Department's effort to fulfill a promise an assistant attorney general made to Congress last month to examine whether a special counsel was warranted to look into what has become known as the Uranium One deal, a senior Justice Department official said.
At issue is a 2010 transaction in which the Obama Administration allowed the sale of U.S. uranium mining facilities to Russia's state atomic energy company. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state at the time, and the State Department was one of nine agencies that agreed to approve the deal after finding no threat to U.S. national security.
The interviews with FBI agents are part of the Justice Department's effort to fulfill a promise an assistant attorney general made to Congress last month to examine whether a special counsel was warranted to look into what has become known as the Uranium One deal, a senior Justice Department official said.
At issue is a 2010 transaction in which the Obama Administration allowed the sale of U.S. uranium mining facilities to Russia's state atomic energy company. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state at the time, and the State Department was one of nine agencies that agreed to approve the deal after finding no threat to U.S. national security.
Hillary Clinton speaks in Los Angeles on Dec. 15. Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
A senior law enforcement official who was briefed on the initial FBI investigation told NBC News there were allegations of corruption surrounding the process under which the U.S. government approved the sale. But no charges were filed.
As the New York Times reported in April 2015, some of the people associated with the deal contributed millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. And Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 for a Moscow speech by a Russian investment bank with links to the transaction.
Hillary Clinton has denied playing any role in the decision by the State Department to approve the sale, and the State Department official who approved it has said Clinton did not intervene in the matter. That hasn't stopped some Republicans, including President Trump, from calling the arrangement corrupt — and urging that Clinton be investigated.
In a letter to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd said Justice Department lawyers would make recommendations to Sessions about whether an investigation should be opened or expanded, or whether a special counsel should be appointed to probe a number of issues of concern to Republicans.
In recent weeks, FBI agents who investigated the case have been asked by Justice Department prosecutors to describe the results of their probe. The agents also have been asked if there was any improper effort to squash a prosecution, the law enforcement sources say.
The senior Justice Department official said the questions were part of an effort by the Sessions team to get up to speed on the controversial case, in the face of allegations from Congressional Republicans that it was mishandled.
An FBI spokesman declined to comment.
On June 8, 2010, Uranium One announced it had signed an agreement to sell a majority stake to the mining arm of Rosatom, the Russian nuclear energy agency.
At the time, Uranium One's two licensed mining operations in Wyoming amounted to about 20 percent of all uranium mining production capacity in the U.S, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (That figure has since decreased.)
A senior law enforcement official who was briefed on the initial FBI investigation told NBC News there were allegations of corruption surrounding the process under which the U.S. government approved the sale. But no charges were filed.
As the New York Times reported in April 2015, some of the people associated with the deal contributed millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. And Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 for a Moscow speech by a Russian investment bank with links to the transaction.
Hillary Clinton has denied playing any role in the decision by the State Department to approve the sale, and the State Department official who approved it has said Clinton did not intervene in the matter. That hasn't stopped some Republicans, including President Trump, from calling the arrangement corrupt — and urging that Clinton be investigated.
In a letter to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd said Justice Department lawyers would make recommendations to Sessions about whether an investigation should be opened or expanded, or whether a special counsel should be appointed to probe a number of issues of concern to Republicans.
In recent weeks, FBI agents who investigated the case have been asked by Justice Department prosecutors to describe the results of their probe. The agents also have been asked if there was any improper effort to squash a prosecution, the law enforcement sources say.
The senior Justice Department official said the questions were part of an effort by the Sessions team to get up to speed on the controversial case, in the face of allegations from Congressional Republicans that it was mishandled.
An FBI spokesman declined to comment.
On June 8, 2010, Uranium One announced it had signed an agreement to sell a majority stake to the mining arm of Rosatom, the Russian nuclear energy agency.
At the time, Uranium One's two licensed mining operations in Wyoming amounted to about 20 percent of all uranium mining production capacity in the U.S, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (That figure has since decreased.)
Is President Trump right about Russia, Uranium and Clinton?
Because enriched uranium is a component of nuclear weapons, the deal required a national security review by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States.
As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, The New York Times reported, Uranium One's Canadian chairman, Ian Telfer, used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the foundation, the Times reported, despite a promise to publicly identify all donors. The foundation later said it made a mistake.
Others associated with Uranium One also donated to the Clinton Foundation, according to the Times.
Sen John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, raised objections to the sale, saying it would "give the Russian government control over a sizable portion of America's uranium production capacity."
The U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan also raised concerns in cables to Clinton's State Department that Rosatom was acting on behalf of Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, to gobble up uranium mines after Russia felt "squeezed" by having their uranium imports limited by other countries.
Nonetheless, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, approved the deal by a unanimous vote, according to public reports. Clinton was just one member of the nine member CFIUS by virtue of her role as Secretary of State. The other eight members of CFIUS came from Treasury, Homeland Security, Commerce, Defense, Energy, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Office of Science & Technology, and the Justice Department.
Defenders of the deal point out that the Russians don't have a license to export the uranium out of the U.S., and that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found no risk to national security.
Ian Telfer, chairman of Goldcorp Inc., speaks during an interview in Toronto in 2014. Galit Rodan / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesClinton has said she was not involved in the deliberations and played no role in the decision.
Jose Fernandez, a former assistant secretary of state, told the Times that he represented the department on the committee, and that "Mrs. Clinton never intervened with me on any C.F.I.U.S. matter." He did not respond to a request for comment by NBC News.
A spokesman for Hillary Clinton did not answer whether she was ever briefed on the Uranium One deal.
"At every turn this storyline has been debunked on the merits," said the spokesman, Nick Merrill. "This latest iteration is simply more of the right doing Trump's bidding for him to distract from his own Russia problems, which are real and a grave threat to our national security."
Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrumpUranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow!
6:17 AM - Oct 19, 2017
Stewart Baker, a former top lawyer in the George W. Bush administration and an expert in the CFIUS process, said he doubted that the Uranium One decision ever reached Clinton's desk.
About the donations, he said, "Is it possible that the Russians thought they needed to do this and that it would help them? Yeah, but that doesn't mean that it actually did."
Baker said it was disquieting that the Sessions Justice Department was re-examining a case that career officials already concluded warranted no charges.
"You'd like to think that that wouldn't happen often in a mature democracy," he said.
However, he pointed out that Eric Holder, President Obama's attorney general, ordered a new investigation into brutal CIA interrogations after career prosecutors had looked but filed no charges in the Bush administration. In the end, Holder's department didn't file charges, either.
Frank Giustra and Uranium OneUranium One became a much bigger player in the uranium market after it absorbed a company run and co-owned by Frank Giustra, a Canadian businessman and Bill Clinton associate, in February 2007.
Giustra was the chairman of UrAsia, a company bidding for uranium rights in Kazakhstan. In 2005, after he had begun negotiating for the rights, he and Bill Clinton traveled to Kazakhstan on separate planes and attended a dinner with the country's president.
Frank Giustra speaks as former President Bill Clinton looks on during a news conference announcing that the Clinton foundation is launching a new sustainable development initiative in Latin America in New York in 2007. Shannon Stapleton / Reuters file
UrAsia had soon closed deals for uranium mining rights in Kazakhstan. In 2006, Giustra donated $31.3 million to the Clinton Foundation.
The value of UrAsia shares increased seventyfold between 2005 and 2007. Uranium One merged with UrAsia in 2007, after which, says Giustra, he sold his shares and left the company — three years before the controversial sale of U.S. uranium mining facilities.
Giustra has donated more than $100 million to the Clinton Foundation and currently sits on the foundation's board.
In a statement, Giustra said that he had been working on the purchase of mining stakes from a private Kazakh company in early 2005, and the purchase was concluded in late 2005.
"In late 2005, I went to Kazakhstan to finish the negotiations of the sale," said Giustra. "Bill Clinton flew to Almaty a few days after I arrived in the country on another person's plane … Bill Clinton had nothing to do with the purchase of private mining stakes by a Canadian company."
Judge declares mistrial in Bundy standoff case
A federal judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case involving Cliven Bundy and his two sons after she found prosecutors “willfully” failed to turn over evidence related to an armed standoff three years ago.
U.S.District Judge Gloria Navarro pointed to several Brady violations — suppression of evidence that could be favorable to a defendant — and then dismissed the jury.
“It was not possible to go forward with the case,” Navarro told the jurors.
It marks yet another setback for federal prosecutors, who have struggled to obtain convictions against the Bundy family and their supporters and the cases have become a rallying point for those who believe the federal government has overstepped its authority by controlling public lands operated by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
The federal government brought the case forward as it alleged Bundy and his two sons escalated tensions after refusing court orders to remove cattle from public lands — ultimately leading to an armed standoff with federal law enforcement officials in April 2014 outside of Bunkerville, Nevada.
That standoff ended after federal authorities backed down, claiming they feared for their lives as about 400 Bundy supporters — many with guns — held their ground. The high-profile incident forced the closure of a segment of Interstate 15 near Mesquite as the Bundy supporters tried to stop federal officials from removing the cattle.
But the trial has been slow-going.
Jurors were seated in early November and opening arguments weren’t heard until Nov. 14. Defense lawyers claimed evidence had been withheld by the prosecution and that set in motion a series of delays and sealed hearings.
There were also unexpected surprises for the government, as Navarro allowed Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy — along with Ryan Payne — to be granted pretrial release so they could better prepare their case and be at home with their families. Cliven Bundy has remained jailed at a prison in Pahrump.
After Navarro declared a mistrial, Ryan Bundy asked for his release with a promise to appear in court if a new trial is set, but Navarro told him he would have to make the request through the pretrial office.
Navarro has set Feb. 26 as a new trial date.
Last week, The Oregonian obtained a November 27 memo from lead investigator who accused federal agents of misconduct during the 2014 standoff. The 18-page document also suggested the agents held prejudicial feelings against the Bundy’s for being Mormon.
With defense lawyers already claiming the prosecution had failed to disclose evidence, it became a part of about a week-long series of sealed court hearings as the Bundy’s angled for a mistrial or outright dismissal of the charges.
The stakes have been high for the federal government, which has struggled to obtain convictions in cases surrounding the Bundy family and their cohorts.
This case was expected to go into the early part of 2018 as prosecutors attempted to prove the four defendants threatened a federal officer, carried and used a firearm and engaging in conspiracy — all felony charges that would’ve had them spend decades in prison.
The 71-year-old Bundy is revered among those who believe the federal government and supporters gathered outside the courthouse most mornings when court was in session. “Today is a great day,” one supporter yelled outside the federal courthouse.In the case.
Federal prosecutors had looked for this case to stop a steady losing streak in court against the Bundy family. Twice this year, Las Vegas jurors acquitted or deadlocked on multiple felony charges against Bundy supporters.
Ammon Bundy, 42, and Ryan Bundy, 44, were acquitted on similar federal felony charges related to their roles in a 41-day standoff at an Oregon wildlife preserve in 2016.
That standoff ended after federal authorities backed down, claiming they feared for their lives as about 400 Bundy supporters — many with guns — held their ground. The high-profile incident forced the closure of a segment of Interstate 15 near Mesquite as the Bundy supporters tried to stop federal officials from removing the cattle.
But the trial has been slow-going.
Jurors were seated in early November and opening arguments weren’t heard until Nov. 14. Defense lawyers claimed evidence had been withheld by the prosecution and that set in motion a series of delays and sealed hearings.
There were also unexpected surprises for the government, as Navarro allowed Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy — along with Ryan Payne — to be granted pretrial release so they could better prepare their case and be at home with their families. Cliven Bundy has remained jailed at a prison in Pahrump.
After Navarro declared a mistrial, Ryan Bundy asked for his release with a promise to appear in court if a new trial is set, but Navarro told him he would have to make the request through the pretrial office.
Navarro has set Feb. 26 as a new trial date.
Last week, The Oregonian obtained a November 27 memo from lead investigator who accused federal agents of misconduct during the 2014 standoff. The 18-page document also suggested the agents held prejudicial feelings against the Bundy’s for being Mormon.
With defense lawyers already claiming the prosecution had failed to disclose evidence, it became a part of about a week-long series of sealed court hearings as the Bundy’s angled for a mistrial or outright dismissal of the charges.
The stakes have been high for the federal government, which has struggled to obtain convictions in cases surrounding the Bundy family and their cohorts.
This case was expected to go into the early part of 2018 as prosecutors attempted to prove the four defendants threatened a federal officer, carried and used a firearm and engaging in conspiracy — all felony charges that would’ve had them spend decades in prison.
The 71-year-old Bundy is revered among those who believe the federal government and supporters gathered outside the courthouse most mornings when court was in session. “Today is a great day,” one supporter yelled outside the federal courthouse.In the case.
Federal prosecutors had looked for this case to stop a steady losing streak in court against the Bundy family. Twice this year, Las Vegas jurors acquitted or deadlocked on multiple felony charges against Bundy supporters.
Ammon Bundy, 42, and Ryan Bundy, 44, were acquitted on similar federal felony charges related to their roles in a 41-day standoff at an Oregon wildlife preserve in 2016.
North Korea Issues Sudden Statement On Talks About Nuclear Program With US
North Korea stressed Tuesday that it will not talk to the U.S. until the latter changes its so-called “hostile policy.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested last Tuesday that the U.S. is not only ready to meet with North Korea, but willing to do so without preconditions.
“It’s not realistic to say we’re only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They have too much invested in it,” he said at the Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum.
The White House immediately walked this back, asserting that the president’s position has not changed.
“Given North Korea’s most recent missile test, clearly right now is not the time,” a White House National Security Council spokesman said.
“North Korea must earn its way back to the table,” Tillerson said at the U.N. Friday, reversing course completely.
While the Trump administration appears to be struggling to make up its mind on exactly what it hopes to achieve on North Korea, the North has made it clear that it is not interested in talks.
“What the U.S. seeks in proposing talks with or without preconditions is the nuclear dismantlement of the DPRK,” the state-run Rodong Sinmun argued Tuesday according to KCNA Watch, emphasizing that it is not interested in such discussions.
“The DPRK has no interest in the dialogue intermittently put up by the U.S.,” the paper explained, adding, “As the DPRK has consistently insisted, the way to solve the issue between the DPRK and the U.S. is for the U.S. to drop at an early date its heinous hostile policy, which defines the DPRK as an enemy, and co-exist peacefully with the DPRK possessed of nukes.”
“As long as the U.S. hostile policy and nuclear threat toward the DPRK are not fundamentally removed,” the commentary asserted, “the DPRK will never put its nukes and ballistic missiles on the table of negotiations nor flinch even an inch from the already chosen road of bolstering up the nuclear force.”
For North Korea, the term “hostile policy” often refers to sanctions and America’s military presence on the Korean Peninsula, as well as anti-DPRK rhetoric.
“This is the fixed stand of the DPRK,” Pyongyang concluded in its statement.
“This is the fixed stand of the DPRK,” Pyongyang concluded in its statement.
North Korea has developed two different types of intercontinental ballistic missile, both of which can theoretically range the continental U.S., and detonated a suspected staged thermonuclear device.
This Immediate Result Of Trump's Tax Win Will Leave Liberals Speechless
AT&T on Wednesday hailed Congress’s passage of tax cuts and announced it would invest an additional $1 billion in the United States next year, and pay a one-time $1,000 holiday bonus to more than 200,000 U.S. employees.
In a press release, the company, which is in the midst of a proposed $85 billion merger with Time Warner that President Trump has criticized, said the bonuses would be paid to all "union-represented, non-management and front-line managers."
"If the President signs the bill before Christmas, employees will receive the bonus over the holidays," the press release said.
The move got the attention of Trump, who opened a White House celebration with congressional Republicans over the tax bill's passage by quoting from the AT&T release.
The move got the attention of Trump, who opened a White House celebration with congressional Republicans over the tax bill's passage by quoting from the AT&T release.
Trump's Deportation Squad NABS Bernie's Press Secretary
by: Remington Strelivo
Bernie Sanders's former press secretary is an illegal immigrant – who's now in the process of being deported after her recent arrest in Washington, D.C.
Erika Andiola, who worked for Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign as the press secretary for Hispanic media, was arrested on Friday. Capitol Hill Police hauled her, six other illegal immigrants, and one "ally" after they staged a sit-in at the office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Their protest was in response to the repeal of President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Andiola, a native of Mexico, posted on Facebook and Twitter shortly after her arrest about refusal to cooperate with law enforcement.
She wrote: "I am still in police custody after being released last night at @SenSchumer's office demanding he proves his claim to support Dreamers by organizing his caucus to block any spending deal that does not include a clean #DreamAct. I am refusing to cooperate and will remain in jail at risk of deportation... until he meets this demand."
The group of Dreamers is now engaging in a hunger strike. They're hoping that their actions will push Schumer into fighting harder for the DREAM Act – which would give legal status to illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children – before Congress votes on the next spending bill on December 22.
However, despite Schumer's strong language in support of the DREAM Act back in September, he's not indicated that he's willing to initiate a government shutdown to guarantee the DREAM Act.
REVEALED! The 2020 Democratic front-runner is…
The 2018 midterm elections have not happened yet… but that hasn’t stopped top Democrats from dreaming big. Already, top liberal leaders are getting their political ducks in a row so they can challenge Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
In fact, one top Democratic insider (a personal friend of twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and a member of her New York political cabal) has already emerged as a clear frontrunner for the Democrats.
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio secretly began his presidential campaign on Tuesday during a fundraiser in Iowa, the first primary caucus for the 2020 election.
While the name might not invoke fear among the average Trump voter, it gives chills to conservative leadership.
That’s because de Blasio wants to force New York City values down the throat of everyday Americans.
“This isn’t some nobody,” warned The National Review in 2016. “While conservatives want to ignore New York City, it’s a power hub of liberal politics. Bill de Blasio is going to haunt your politics for the next two decades, no matter where you live and regardless of whether you like it. There will be no tuning him and his progressive crusade out.”
“You may not be interested in Bill de Blasio, but, I assure you, Bill de Blasio is interested in you.”
De Blasio told a cheering crowd of liberals in Iowa that Democrats everywhere, even in rural Iowa, must embrace a progressive agenda to win elections and grab control of the government.
“We have to be uncompromising,” de Blasio told the group at the gathering in downtown Des Moines, where he stressed his work in New York City as an example for the rest of America. “We have to be strong. We’re the party of working people. We believe in the labor movement.”
The speech was clearly meant to sound presidential, notes Townhall. De Blasio denied the rumors, of course.
However, de Blasio made similar points in a blog post last month, but his actual appearance in Iowa marked a more formal effort to seek a prominent role on the national stage. The location is no coincidence if the mayor’s 2020 plans put him in the White House, given Iowa’s status for first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.
Organizers for Progress Iowa, a self-described liberal advocacy organization, estimated hundreds people showed up to hear the mayor speak at their annual fundraiser.
Still, it’s unclear how de Blasio’s message will resonate in Iowa. The mayor previously attempted to raise his profile in the state by launching a nonprofit group that tried to host a presidential forum in 2015. The event fell apart because there wasn’t enough interest from candidates at the time.
De Blasio acknowledged those previous efforts and expressed wanting to form another group to support progressive candidates. But he offered limited details. He also didn’t specify his future travels.
The visit for de Blasio also included some controversy from Democrats back home, latching on the opportunity to advance their own agendas. Unions representing New York City employees have been critical that de Blasio’s labor policies haven’t been generous enough and used his latest Iowa appearance to highlight those views.
The Transport Workers Union, which represents bus and subway employees, paid for a full page ad against de Blasio in the state’s largest newspaper, The Des Moines Register, and called him a “phony progressive” on social media.
Bethlehem is blaming Trump for…WHAT!?
President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital looms large in Christmas festivities this year in the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
Some food vendors, sellers of holiday trinkets and a leading hotelier in biblical Bethlehem say Palestinian protests, triggered by what many here view as a provocative show of pro-Israel bias, have hurt their Christmas business.
Yet Bethlehem also offers a stage for a Palestinian rebuttal: banners proclaiming Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Palestine have been draped over facades on Manger Square as a backdrop for Christmas TV broadcasts to a global audience.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is keenly felt — perhaps even more so at Christmas — in Bethlehem, just a few miles (kilometers) south of contested Jerusalem.
Israel’s West Bank separation barrier cuts into Bethlehem and a segment of it has become a tourist magnet in its own right. Its cement slabs are covered with works by international graffiti artists such as Banksy and pro-Palestinian slogans left by visitors.
While Palestinians try to draw attention to the barrier when foreigners pour in for Christmas, Trump’s policy shift on Jerusalem two weeks ago has emerged as the dominant theme this year. It went against an international consensus that the fate of the city should be determined in negotiations. Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem houses major Muslim, Jewish and Christian shrines, and Palestinians seek it as a future capital.
Trump’s declaration triggered clashes in the Palestinian territories between stone-throwers and Israeli soldiers who fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, most on the Gaza border, and scores were wounded.
In Bethlehem, the fallout was felt immediately.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to have received Vice President Mike Pence, a devout Christian, in Bethlehem, but canceled after the U.S. pivot on Jerusalem. The snub came as Abbas shifted from cooperating with the United States to rejecting Washington as a Mideast broker.
Meanwhile, Bethlehem’s flagship luxury hotel, the 250-bed Jacir Palace, closed because of frequent nearby clashes.
General manager Marwan Kittani said the hotel had been fully booked for Christmas, but that he is now assessing day by day if he can reopen.
Palestinian activists have called for more protests.
In Manger Square, next to the Church of the Nativity built over Jesus’ traditional birth grotto, some merchants blamed Trump for a drop in business.
Two souvenir shop owners selling nativity scenes and tree decorations carved from olive wood said they hadn’t had any customers by early afternoon.
Two souvenir shop owners selling nativity scenes and tree decorations carved from olive wood said they hadn’t had any customers by early afternoon.
Mahmoud Salahat, who sells pomegranate juice on the square, said his main source of income — Palestinian citizens of Israel — largely stayed away from Bethlehem during the past two weeks, apparently fearing trouble on the roads.
Palestinian officials took a more upbeat view.
The Christmas season caps a banner year for tourism in the Palestinian territories, with 2.7 million visitors in 2017, compared to 2.3 million in 2016, said Tourism Ministry official Jiries Qumsieh. Despite some cancellations, Bethlehem’s 4,000 hotel rooms were more than 90 percent booked for Christmas, he said.
Christmas also offers an annual opportunity for Abbas to court international sympathy for long-standing Palestinian demands for statehood in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in 1967. Abbas rival Hamas, an Islamic militant group that dominates Gaza, seeks a state in all of historic Palestine, including what is now Israel.
The vast majority of Palestinians are Muslims, but Abbas — like the late Yasser Arafat before him — values close ties with the Christian minority, regularly attending Christmas Eve mass at the Church of the Nativity, which is broadcast live.
This year, TV footage will likely show two large banners hanging from roofs in Manger Square, reading: “Jerusalem will always be the eternal capital of Palestine.”
Activists also plan to circulate a petition to Christmas visitors in support of Palestinian claims to Jerusalem and distribute stickers reading: “We (heart) Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine,” said organizer Munther Amira.
Earlier this week, two dozen protesters assembled near the square’s towering Christmas tree, holding white candles and photos of Pence and Jason Greenblatt, a member of Trump’s Mideast team.
“Bethlehem welcomes the messengers of peace, not the messengers of war,” read the captions under the photos.
The protesters the held the candles to the photos and burned them.
Amira said it was a protest against U.S. policy, not the American people.
Some tourists seem baffled by the politics and are mainly drawn to the Nativity basilica, currently under renovation and partly covered by scaffolding.
German pilgrim Ludmilla Trifl said she reserves judgment because she doesn’t know enough about the conflict.
The separation barrier at the entrance to Bethlehem “does not look good, she said, adding that she’s also heard it described as a security measure. Israel says the barrier is to keep out Palestinian militants, while Palestinians call it a land grab.
Along the barrier, a different type of tourism has emerged.
The area around the Walled-Off Hotel, a Banksy-linked guesthouse that opened in March, has become a center for political street art. A recent wall piece said to have been created by Banksy shows two angels, one with a crowbar, on either side of a gap between cement slabs, each trying to widening the opening.
A nearby shop called “Wall-Mart” offers stencils and spray paint — with prices for slogan sizes ranging from $14 to $26 — to help visitors to leave their mark.
On a recent morning, Australian Farzanah Fazli shook spray cans, filling in a stencil she had taped to the wall. Slowly, the words “Once upon a time, there was humanity” emerged — meant to express her view that Israeli policies have dehumanized the Palestinians.
Fazli, 30, a London-based accountant, said leaving that message was the highlight of her Middle East trip, even if it is eventually painted over by others.
Graffiti shop employee Wanda Handal, 21, said artists have transformed her neighborhood.
“Back in the day, it was the creepy street” she said. Now, “the street is alive, art everywhere.”
In 2005, Al Franken was busted for taking $875k from children’s club – claimed it was an accident
Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) may have resigned from his position, but his past scandals continue to resurface amid a string of sexual harassment allegations. In one such scandal, Franken and former Air America chairman Evan Montvel Cohen signed a confidential agreement that said the network would repay $875,000 in ill-gotten loans from the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club in New York.
According to The Washington Times, Franken first denied being aware of the transfers, and then later called it a mistake. Either way, the Air America radio personality was caught in a loans-from-children scandal that will be added to the growing list of Franken’s transgressions.
Al Franken’s Past Resurfaces
In late 2003 and early 2004, documents show that the Bronx-based non-profit organization transferred $167,000 and another $708,000 to Air America. Franken’s signature appears on a page that was stamped by State of New York Notary Public Wallis Northworth.
Following probes into the taxpayer-subsidized group by the city’s Department of Investigation and the state attorney general into “inappropriate transactions” by Wise, Air America quickly repaid the money that Franken claimed was a “moral obligation.” But Franken’s role in the loans-from-children scandal is what plagues his career.
When the reports came out, Franken first told listeners: I didn’t know anything about this until late last week. I am not an investor, and I didn’t see this thing.
Many had believed Franken, especially after Air America CEO Danny Goldberg told the New York Sun that on-air talent “never had any responsibility for this loan.” This appeared to be untrue.
Not only did Franken’s signature appear on a notarized document, he was well informed of the total sum, where the money came from, and the dates of the transfers. Franken was also one of the signers of a confidential agreement in November 2004.
Unscrupulous dealings with a center for children and the elderly? That’s pretty low.
Other elements of his past are coming to light. For instance, in 1976, Franken said, “I just don’t like homosexuals.”
Al Franken: A Serial Groper?
In mid-November, the first in a myriad of sexual misconduct allegations came to light against Senator Franken. Accusations ranged from sexual assault to harassment to inappropriate behavior.
The reports were followed by calls from both Republicans and Democrats for Franken to step down. He resisted for quite some time.
But, on December 7, Franken announced his resignation – his farewell speech included denouncing President Donald Trump. But it seems like Democrats are having second thoughts, with several senators urging Franken to reconsider his resignation.
What they did to Al was atrocious, the Democrats.
The most hypocritical thing I’ve ever seen done to a human being — and then have enough guts to sit on the floor, watch him give his speech and go over and hug him? That’s hypocrisy at the highest level I’ve ever seen in my life. Made me sick.
Whether Franken reverses his resignation or seeks public office again, his past will haunt him. From the loans-from-children scandal to his sexual improprieties, Franken’s political career is over.
The most hypocritical thing I’ve ever seen done to a human being — and then have enough guts to sit on the floor, watch him give his speech and go over and hug him? That’s hypocrisy at the highest level I’ve ever seen in my life. Made me sick.
Whether Franken reverses his resignation or seeks public office again, his past will haunt him. From the loans-from-children scandal to his sexual improprieties, Franken’s political career is over.
G’ day…Ciao…
Helen and Moe Lauzier
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