U.S. authorities are stepping up investigations, including an FBI criminal inquiry, into possible violations by employees of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire of a U.S. law banning corrupt payments to foreign officials such as police, law enforcement and corporate sources said.
But U.S. investigators have found little to substantiate allegations of phone hacking inside the United States by Murdoch journalists, the sources added.
The FBI is conducting an investigation into possible criminal violations by Murdoch employees of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a law intended to curb payment of bribes by U.S. companies to foreign officials, a U.S. law enforcement official said.
The U.S. official said that if any law enforcement action was pursued by U.S. authorities against Murdoch employees, it would most likely relate to FCPA.
If it is found to have violated the FCPA, Murdoch’s News Corp, which has its headquarters in New York, could be fined up to $2 million and barred from U.S. government contracts, and individuals who participated in the bribery could face fines of up to $100,000 and a jail sentence of five years.
When the scandalous “Operation: Fast and Furious” began to get attention from Republican lawmakers and finally the press, the guardians of Left’s pro-Obama / Democrat narrative tried to discredit the people talking about it. Chief among the smear factories was, of course, Media Matters. The gun-walking operation, which has led to numerous deaths in Mexico and the murder of at least one Federal Agent – Brian Terry, is clearly a disaster. But in the sick and twisted world of Media Matters, the real threat comes from the people speaking out against their Dear Leader’s potentially criminal debacle.
Several commentators have speculated the operation was purposely botched in order to lend some real world data to the assertion that the guns used in Mexico mainly come from the United States, the crux of the argument being that this statistic bolsters attempts for tighter gun control here in the US. It may be a leap to make the connection, but the statistic has been used in reporting about the Mexican drug wars. Reporting including statements like this:
But finding a way to stop the weapons flow, now known as the “Iron River,” is being hindered to some extent by U.S. gun laws, officials say. In November, the inspector general of the Department of Justice detailed the problem, citing the lack of a federal statute specifically prohibiting firearms trafficking.
Again, it might be a leap, but the jump isn’t that far. The point is that there’s really no reason to paint those who have been following Fast and Furious as kooks because they see the potential. Someone should be asking these questions, but those questions are uncomfortable for the Obama administration, and Media Matters can’t have that. When Democrats are being questioned, Media Matters goons suddenly become strict constructionists in interpreting journalistic standards. They also try really hard to shoot the messengers like Mike Vanderboegh.
Last month, New York Times reporter James C. McKinley Jr. falsely reported that an FBI informant who helped to thwart a left-wing terrorist plot had actually encouraged the conspiracy. In the article “Anarchist Ties Seen in ’08 Bombing of Texas Governor’s Mansion” published February 22, 2011 online and in the print edition a day later, the Times indicated that former left-wing activist and BigGovernment.com contributor Brandon Darby urged two anarchists to firebomb the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota [emphasis added]:
Yet federal agents accused two men from these circles of plotting to make firebombs and hurl them at police cars during the convention. An F.B.I informant from Austin, Brandon Darby, was traveling with the group and told the authorities of the plot, which he had encouraged.
We brought this to your attention on February 24th when we asked the Times to correct the record. We noted that according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, the assertion Darby “encouraged” the plot was patently false. On February 27th, we brought in Matthew Vadum, an expert on the circumstances surrounding the plot, to provide broader context to the Times’s smear.
Still, the error remained uncorrected.
Then, last week, a source informed BigJournalism.com that the New York Times reporter acknowledged the charge they published against Darby was in fact bogus, but still, the Times did not correct the article.
As of this writing, the false charge against Darby remains in tact.
Today, Brandon Darby filed a lawsuit against New York Times for libel and defamation. An official letter from Mr. Darby:
Last week, we asked the New York Timesto correct an article by James C. McKinley Jr. that falsely claimed FBI informant and BigGovernment contributor Brandon Darby “encouraged” the left-wing terrorist plot to firebomb the 2008 RNC convention on which he blew the proverbial whistle. First, we pointed out that this assertion had been debunked by both the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota and one of the convicted plotters. We then brought in journalist Matthew Vadum, an expert on Darby’s incredible story, to write up a more comprehensive article to provide broader context to the Times’s smear. But the record went uncorrected.
So we pressed the Times even more, this time getting another expert on this case, James Walsh of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, to reach out to Mr. McKinley and point out the egregious error in the NYT piece. We were forwarded the following email written by Mr. Walsh (emphasis added):
I sent an email to the NYT reporter this morning. In it, I said that I covered the case and that Darby was never proven to have encourage or participated in any violence. I told the reporter that [David McKay] made that assertion and won a hung jury, but later admitted that he lied when it became apparent that [Neil] Crowder would testify against him.
I got this response:
“Thank you for you letter and for straightening us out on that point. Yours. Jim”
For what it’s worth….
James Walsh
Staff Writer
Federal Courts and Federal Agencies
Star Tribune
According to Walsh’s email, Times reporter James C. McKinley Jr. is now crystal-clear that there was never any evidence to suggest Mr. Darby did anything to encourage the plot to murder Republicans, yet his article remains uncorrected. (more…)
As a wave of left-wing violence threatens to engulf the nation, why is the progressive New York Times running an ugly campaign of character assassination against a real-life American hero who saved lives and helped to safeguard the nation’s sacred democratic process?
Could it be because the newspaper is sympathetic to the goals of the thuggish community organizers and union goons intimidating state legislatures across America and wants to help advance the liberal-left narrative?
The man with the bull’s eye on his back is Brandon Darby, formerly a far-left community organizer. This heroic defector from the Left stands accused by the New York Times and by angry radical groups of becoming an agent provocateur. Unhinged anarchists across the country would love to get their hands on him.
All over the Internet Darby’s name has been dragged through the mud by the Daily Kos and Crooks and Liars crowd. They accuse him of selling out and pushing the wrongdoers hard enough that he essentially became a co-conspirator. Search for his name with the words traitor, rat, or fink and you’ll see what I mean. (more…)
This news comes as no surprise, but as was the case with the ACORN video exposé, the target of Live Action’s investigation is not any specific branch manager.
PERTH AMBOY — The man and woman walked into the Planned Parenthood clinic in Perth Amboy sounding like the operators of a child sex ring looking for help with their business.
They told the manager they would bring in girls as young as 14 for tests, birth control and abortion referrals and wanted to know what kind of questions to expect from clinic employees.
The manager was helpful. She coached them to lie about the age of the girls’ sex partners. “If they are a minor, we are obligated if we hear certain information, to kind of report (it),” the manager said. “So as long as they just lie and say, ‘Oh, he’s 15, 16,’ ’’ no one should question them.
But the man and woman were actually members of Live Action, a California-based anti-abortion group that targeted Planned Parenthood clinics in five states and Washington, D.C., last month. The scenes were videotaped and posted on YouTube, and today created a national uproar.
Tonight, Central Jersey Planned Parenthood fired the manager, identified in the video as Amy Woodruff, and beefed up security around its clinics. (more…)
The footage corroborates a 2002 extensive study of Planned Parenthood clinics performed by Life Dynamics. Through a series of phone calls, the study documents over 90% of over 800 abortion clinics willing to cover up sexual abuse.
In ten Planned Parenthood clinics, Live Action videos depict investigators posing as underage girls, as young as 13-years-old, saying they were impregnated by men over twice their age. Planned Parenthood’s typical response? “Whatever you tell us stays within these walls” (Alabama). Or, “I didn’t hear the age, I don’t want to know the age” (Indiana). Or, “You don’t have to say anything” (Arizona). Or, “Just say he’s 15″ (Tennessee).
We have also chronicled Planned Parenthood workers giving outright medical misinformation and manipulating vulnerable young women to purchase abortions. We’ve shown Planned Parenthood willing to accept funds for race-based abortions of unborn Black children. And for those who are willing to face the ultimate abuse of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, we’ve released a video revealing what abortion does to the defenseless unborn child.
What will it take for Congress to stop funding this abusive and corrupt billion-dollar organization? What will it take for the Department of Justice to launch a thorough investigation of Planned Parenthood’s sexual abuse cover-up and medical misinformation? What will it take for us, the American public, to say, “Enough is enough!”
Hopefully this:
Our investigative team has taken things a step further. We have intensified the scenario. During the past three years of research, our team became aware of the horrific connection between human sex trafficking and “confidential” abortion clinics that refuse to report abuse. Read the testimonies of human trafficking victims. You’ll find heartbreaking stories of manipulation, rape, sexually contracted diseases, and coerced abortion.
Think about it. Where is a pimp going to send his victims if they get pregnant on the “job”? An abortion clinic, and preferably one that won’t ask any questions. What if those victims are young girls, kidnapped or drafted in from the US, or trafficked in from other nations? Planned Parenthood has demonstrated that they do not report abuse. They are experts at turning a blind eye and asking for “as little information as possible.”
But would Planned Parenthood go as far as aiding and abetting the sex trafficking of underage girls?
This video reveals a top-level Planned Parenthood worker, the manager of Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey’s second largest clinic, making a secret deal with a pimp. Watch and listen as the Planned Parenthood manager, Amy Woodruff, advises the pimp how to make the trafficking of underage girls look “as legit as possible” (her words). Watch and listen as the manager advises the pimp how to ensure that his 14-year old victims of trafficking can still make money for him after secret abortions by performing sex acts “waist up” (her idea). Watch as she advises the pimp to instruct his girls to lie on the paper work about their ages, and identify themselves as “students” to get cheaper contraception and avoid mandatory reporting laws.
We are calling on Congress to immediately freeze all funding of Planned Parenthood. We request that the Department of Justice and FBI launch a full-scale investigation of Planned Parenthood and prosecute the aiding and abetting of human trafficking.
We are also calling on state authorities to immediately revoke the licenses of all Planned Parenthood clinics found covering up sex abuse. (more…)
I knew I was going to be whacked hard, but I didn’t know when.
On Thursday, July 15th, I warned NAACP president Ben Jealous to stop the race-baiting. I directed my ire at Jealous on the Scott Hennen radio show:
“I have tapes, a tape, of racism, and it’s an NAACP dinner. You want to play with fire? I have evidence of racism, and it’s coming from the NAACP.”
This was part of an ongoing defense of the Tea Party, and in particular, a volley back against the NAACP for creating a week-long mainstream media-enabled attack built upon the provably false premise that a “mob” of the Tea Partiers hurled racial epithets at Congressmen Andre Carson (D-In) and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga).
“You are manufacturing this in a summer in which the economy is the No. 1 issue affecting blacks and whites in this country,” I said on Hennen’s show. “This country can ill-afford the schism of race to be exploited the way you are, based upon the false premise of the Tea Party being racist… This is absolutely manufactured for political gain.”
My warning to Jealous was received with modest coverage in the conservative blogosphere.
I strongly believed, and still believe, that I had irrefutable evidence that showed the NAACP caught in an act of racism far worse than anything the media and the Democrat Party had attempted to manufacture in a year and a half of relentlessly trying to destroy the Tea Party. (more…)
Rachel Maddow and MSNBC have shown repeatedly that they see the people of Oklahoma City as tools.
Though, this it isn’t only MSNBC that uses Oklahoma City to play the Christians Can Be Radicals Too Card – Whoopi Goldberg used it just last week with Bill O’Reilly. Speaking only for myself, as someone who heard the thunder of the bomb, those references churn my stomach and I’ve seen it do worse to the survivors and surviving family members.
As an example of “extremists” being elected to office, Maddow uses the example of former Congressman Stockman of Texas. She makes the blatantly false claim that Congressman Stockman was tied “so close” to the “militia movement” that he received early warning of the Oklahoma City bombing. That was fleeting rumor disproven in 1995 by the FBI and by the former Congressman’s office. (more…)
Folks who watched CBS “Face the Nation” yesterday were greeted by a once-in-a-lifetime miracle occurrence: host Bob Schieffer taking a contrary position to one of the Administration’s talking points. Talking to White House political director David Axelrod about the President’s charge that the Chamber of Commerce is using foreign donations to support GOP candidates, he asked:
SCHIEFFER: Now, I want to ask you about that because the New York Times looked into the Chamber specifically and said the Chamber really isn’t putting foreign money into the campaign. That it does charge its foreign affiliates dues that bring in less than $100,000 a year. A lot of organizations, including labor unions, do that. But the Chamber has an annual budget of $200 million. Along with that it keeps these foreign dues separate. They do spend heavily in politics — $25 million so far. They expect to spend $50 million. But this part about foreign money, that appears to be peanuts, Mr. Axelrod. Do you have any evidence that it’s anything other than peanuts?
AXELROD: Well, do you have any evidence that it’s not, Bob? The fact is that the Chamber has asserted that but they won’t release any information about where their campaign money is coming from. That’s at the core of the problem here. What we’ve seen in part because of a loophole that the Supreme Court allowed earlier this year, we now see tens of millions of dollars being spent by the chamber and a number of organizations some of which just cropped up. Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove run one of them. Tens of millions of dollars from undisclosed donors under benign names like the American cross roads fund. They’re spending heavily in all of these elections. One race in Colorado, there are six different organizations running negative ads against the Democratic senator there, Michael Bennet. No one knows where the money is coming from. My question back to you and for your next guest is, why not simply disclose where this money is coming from? And then all of these questions will be answered.
In other words Axelrod and the Democratic Party pulled this charge out of nowhere, threw it against the wall and are praying it sticks, or as Schieffer said: (more…)
Miracle in Detroit–First Sharia law zone in nation records falling crime rates as word of amputations spreads.
Voters heard–Congress unanimously passes tern limits bill, setting seasonal daily bag at ten.
Gimme shelter–Hovel-ready projects to provide corrugated cardboard dwellings for urban homeless.
And finally, Gray Lady Gray – New York Times to boost circulation with Sunday photo feature: “Op-Ed Beauties–Babes of the Times.”
Those stories and more later. But first, Obama senior advisor David Axelrod joins us from Chicago shortly after being questioned by the FBI about former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s disappearance. Welcome, sir.
AXELROD: Thanks for having me on, Bob.
GIBBS: Any word on Blagojevich, David?
AXELROD: Who?
GIBBS: Never mind. Rumor is the Obamas will extend their stay on Martha’s Vineyard by two weeks. True?
AXELROD: Yes, Bob. With state-of-the-art communications, the president can avoid his responsibilities wherever he is. Doesn’t matter to him at all.
GIBBS: But so many Americans are suffering while he parties on. Doesn’t it look bad? (more…)
Has the fog of war descended on the U.S. southern border, obscuring the reporting of news and concealing the truth about what is going on along the Rio Grande and in Arizona and California? Many violent incidents are not widely covered, if at all, by the media; some coverage, when it does occur, comes weeks to months afterward.
According to recent information on the FBI’s website, “brutal abductions and murders“ are not isolated incidents on the U.S. side. (Emphasis is from the original).
Emerging from the port of entry’s administrative offices into a sunny San Diego morning, Special Agent Dean Giboney spoke in fluent Spanish with the man whose temporary U.S. visa he had just helped renew.
The kidnappings, beatings, and murders that mark the extreme drug-related violence of Mexican border cities such as Tijuana and Juarez have increasingly spilled over the border. Agent Giboney is hoping the man—we’ll call him José —can provide information that will help in the Bureau’s efforts to dismantle the cartels and the criminal enterprises they fuel.
The following are some of the better-publicized stories being reported from the southern border. How many of them are already familiar to readers? (more…)
The arrest yesterday of ten Russian “moles” here recalls World War II and the late 1940s in the United States when so many Left-duping Soviet agents were embedded in our government that they almost took over the White House.
That’s right, the White House.
We know this now because of the Venona project. the secret operation that enabled us to intercept and read Russian coded messages. It was kept secret until the late 1990s. Also, the breakup of the Soviet Union enabled scholars to learn more from previously closed Russian archives. As the recent arrests show, the Russians are still at it.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana has filed a court document admitting that James O’Keefe did not intend to tamper with the phones at Mary Landrieu’s office, or commit any other felony.
Oh — and the good folks at the Department of Justice don’t particularly want you to know that. This post reveals that, at O’Keefe’s hearing, the Assistant U.S. Attorney tried not to read that part of the document in court. What’s more, the U.S. Attorney pointedly omitted this critical information from their press release.
The news of the Government’s admission broke yesterday, when Big Journalism’s Larry O’Connor reported that a court document filed in James O’Keefe’s criminal case bearing the title “Final Factual Basis” contains the following language:
In this case, further investigation did not uncover evidence that the defendants intended to commit any felony after the entry by false pretenses despite their initial statements to the staff of Senatorial office and GSA requesting access to the central phone system. Instead, the Government’s evidence would show that the defendants misrepresented themselves and their purpose for gaining access to the central phone system to orchestrate a conversation about phone calls to the Senator’s staff and capture the conversation on video, not to actually tamper with the phone system, or to commit any other felony.
This news, which O’Connor relayed at the end of a post about Media Matters’ dishonesty, is a significant piece of news that deserves its own post. It is especially noteworthy because this paragraph comes from a version of the facts that the Government has agreed to by way of stipulation. The document contains the following language showing the Government’s agreement: (more…)
UPDATE: O’Keefe promises more undercover investigations. Full update after the jump.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Four conservative activists accused of trying to tamper with the phones in Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of entering federal property under false pretenses. The most prominent activist, James O’Keefe, was sentenced to three years probation, 100 hours of community service and fined a $1,500 fine. The 25-year-old is known for wearing a pimp costume in a video that embarrassed ACORN.
Magistrate Daniel Knowles III sentenced the three others to two years probation, 75 hours of community service and fined them $1,500.
The FBI has said O’Keefe used his cell phone to try to capture video of two men who posed as telephone repairmen and asked to see the phones. O’Keefe spokesman Denis Calabrese disputed an earlier allegation that a fourth suspect waited in a car with a listening device, which was not mentioned in court records.
The Chicago media covers Illinois political corruption like crime reporters. They show up at the scene, gather for the perp walk, snap a photo, and cover the trial. In short, they wait for the story to happen and then accept official explanations with minimum scrutiny. Consequently, when the Machine gets caught, it’s generally not the media that breaks the story. And it’s been that way in Chicago for a very long time.
Here’s one example of a story gone missing: the strange saga of an FBI mole who interacted with several Chicagoland players, including Barack Obama, associated with the rise-and-fall of Antoin “Tony” Rezko and former Illinois Governor Milorad R. “Rod” Blagojevich.
It starts in the late 1990’s in New York where Bernard Barton, Jr. made “wrong decisions” while running his billboard leasing company. One wrong decision was selling space on billboards he neither owned nor controlled.
According to an FBI affidavit, those “wrong decisions” included Thomas’ drawing more than $350,000 from his customers’ credit cards while he was running a billboard leasing business in Manhattan in the late 1990s. He also charged more than $140,000 to an American Express business account he obtained using his father’s Social Security number.
To mitigate jail time, Barton volunteered to help New York federal prosecutors make a case against organized crime families that were trying to penetrate the billboard business. His offer worked. His sentencing has been delayed… for seven years now. (more…)
Imagine the reaction if a newspaper hired a former National Rifle Association employee to cover a gun control referendum. Or if a former Goldman Sachs trader was offered by a television network as an objective journalist on financial reform.
Even those who agreed with the journalist’s point of view would have to acknowledge the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Something similar may be happening when it comes to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group federal law enforcement views with suspicion at best. In three separate instances in less than a month, reporters working for national news organizations have written stories compatible with CAIR’s agenda without acknowledging their personal histories with the group. In two of the three cases, the reporter had been a full-fledged CAIR employee. In the third, the reporter had received a CAIR scholarship while a student.
Whether the cases are a matter of coincidence, they fit with an ambition outlined by CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad. During the 2005 Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) conference, Awad described the significance of getting more Muslims into mainstream journalism jobs (Hear it here): (more…)
Chicago Tribune reporter John Kass is an old school journalist. He’s one among a cadre of Windy City reporters, most from the Sun Times and the Tribune, who routinely expose the hooligans and shenanigans of the Chicago Political Machine.
Kass says the national MSM ignored the political environment that gave birth to Barack Obama.
While Kass calls Obama “a Chicago political guy,” he knows the Machine is multi-layered. While the hub is Chicago, spokes extend throughout Cook County, and reach deep inside the state capital at Springfield.
Because the MSM ignored the Machine from which Obama emerged, the electorate didn’t realize that voting for Obama meant endorsing politics the Chicago way. Consequently, those outside Illinois knew little about the Machine, how it cleans up its messes, and how the clean-ups can impact individual lives. For example: (more…)
***UPDATE: As expected, Politico's Dylan Byers uses Martin's suspension to once again admonish CNN for not "punishing" (his word) Erick Erickson and Dana Loesch. Fascistic GLAAD wins another scalp. Over the years, CNN's Roland Martin has said some awfully outrageous stuff about Republicans and the Tea...
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