Best Man at Militia Wedding Ended Up Being FBI Informant

Hutaree members/southern poverty law center photo

By Allan Lengel

DETROIT — Next time you might want to think twice before you have a guy named “Jersey Steve” as the best man at your wedding.

The Detroit Free Press reports that ring leader David Stone Sr. of the Hutaree militia in Michigan grew so fond of his friendship with a trucker named “Jersey Steve” that he named him the best man at his wedding.

On Monday, Jersey Steve, aka Steven Haug, who was an FBI informant, testified in the federal trial in downtown Detroit of Stone, his wife, two sons and three others, the Free Press reported.
The group is accused of plotting to overthrow the government with guns and bombs.
Defense attorneys have claimed there’s nothing to the charges.
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Boston Mobster Whitey Bulger May Have Written Memoirs

By Allan Lengel

Well, William Shakespeare he may not be.

But apparently Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger — accused of killing 19 people — was into writing.
The Boston Globe reports that he may have written two memoirs that the feds may use against him in trial, now set for November. He’s charged with racketeering and killing 19 people.

“It is unclear at this juncture whether (Bulger) authored this document,” prosecutors wrote, according to the Globe.

The Globe reported that the feds seized a memoir “My Life in the Iris Mafia Wars” in 1995 at his South Boston residence.

And last year, when they arrested Bulger, 82, and his girlfriend Catherine Greig, 60, in Santa Monica, Calif., the feds seized a second document “which appears to be autobiographical,” the Globe reported.
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FBI Wants Google’s Help in Accessing Pimp’s Phone

By Allan Lengel

Technology is once again bumping up against law enforcement.

PC Magazine is reporting that the FBI has issued a warrant to get Google to give it a Gmail account and password and other info so it can tap into the Android cell phone of an alleged pimp suspected of playing a role in a human trafficking investigation.

PC reported that agents in the San Diego office seized a Samsung phone from suspected pimp Dante Dears on Jan. 17, but were unable to get past the lock on it.
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Woman Wore FBI Wire to Help Bring Down Ex-Ill. Gov Blago

Blagojevich/file photo

By Craig Wall

FOX Chicago News

 

CHICAGO — Pam Davis said convicted former governor Rod Blagojevich has lost his sense of reality.
“I feel a sense of vindication that justice has finally been served,” Davis said. “It’s taken more than eight years, but I do think truth prevailed.”

It has been a long journey for Davis, who has been waiting for this day, waiting for the end of what has been along road for her. She provided the evidence that lead to the FBI’s investigation of Blagojevich.

“The first couple of months I did not have suspicions that it went all the way up to the governor,” Davis said. “But shortly after the second month of working with the FBI, I began to get a sense that this was much more complex and that they tentacles from these individual that were scheming to make money off good works probably did go up to the governor.”
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Mobster Whitey Bulger’s Girlfriend Pleads; Admits Using 11 Aliases While on the Run

IMF approves another $36.7 billion to prop up Greece, ALG responds

March 15, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today condemned a decision by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which the U.S. funds, to lend another $36.7 billion to bail out Greece and the banks that foolishly lent her the money:

“To date, the IMF has given Greece and European banks $26.8 billion in kick-the-can refinance loans. Now the IMF, which the U.S. funds, is bailing out the banks that bet poorly on her debt with another $36.7 billion. Our stake was already $13.5 billion of American taxpayer money being used propping up Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

“With this latest loan, the U.S. stake will rise to mpre than $20 billion spent on bailing out Europe. That does not count additional lending that is taking place by the Federal Reserve to prop up the European financial system. To put the $20 billion spent on Europe into perspective, in the 2010 all 50 states got a bailout from the Pelosi-Reid Congress of $26.1 billion. We’ve sunk 12.7 times more into Greece, Portugal and Ireland per capita than individual states received on average in their last bailout. This is positively outrageous.

“Making matters worse, the U.S. has a prominent seat at the IMF, which could have been used to prevent this bailout. There has been no word on how the U.S. representative voted yet.

“Either, we voted yes, putting the lie to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner who just in February said ‘it’s unlikely you’re going to see the major shareholders of the IMF be prepared to have the IMF play a larger response’ in Greece. Or, perhaps we voted no, in which case it proves the U.S. has surrendered fiscal sovereignty to the international central bank cartel.

“Now is the time to pass legislation proposed by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Sen. Jim DeMint that would rescind $108 billion additional funding to the IMF it received in 2009 when Democrats had a majority in both houses of Congress. American taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize the foolish lending practices of foreign banks. That money needs to be taken back, before it is flushed down the toilet of European socialism.”

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Your tax dollars went to lobbying for higher taxes

By Adam Bitely


Did you know that the Federal Government was spending taxpayer dollars on organizations that would lobby local governments to tax sugar and soda? Were you also aware that such activity is illegal?
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says she was aware of the lobbying activities but was not aware that is was illegal. A recent report from The Daily Caller showed that $230 million had flowed in obesity prevention grants to 30 states as part of the Communities Putting Prevention to Work Initiative. The program was established as part of the 2009 “stimulus” bill.

The report from The Daily Caller brought attention to the fact that some of the $230 million found its way to influence peddlers who lobby local governments for higher soda and sugar taxes.

As stated in Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 1913:

“No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress shall, in the absence of express authorization by Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, policy or appropriation …”

Clearly, HHS Secretary Sebelius and the rest of the bureaucrats involved in this matter are not familiar with the U.S. Code. Sebelius told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health that because the lobbying was taking place on the local level of government that there was no wrongdoing but announced that the practice is now prohibited saying, “The original language that has been part of the law that we have administered and had our grantees administering, applied to grantees lobbying the federal government.”
When the government is spending trillions of dollars by an untold number of bureaucrats this type of activity is bound to happen. Yes, it was illegal, but in a system so large and vast, it is not surprising that the Obama Administration turned their heads, looked the other way, and hoped no one noticed.
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Game Change: Important New Reflections

By David Bozeman

One of the last things America needs is a rehash of the 2008 campaign, but the truth demands constant vigilance. The lies of today easily evolve into the common misperceptions of tomorrow, and if a movement will not defend its own leaders, who will?

Recently, this space discussed the marketing of Game Change, HBO's account of Campaign 2008, focusing on the selection of Sarah Palin for vice president. The producers are selling it as a serious examination of our political selection process. But this writer missed the trees for the forest. The devil is in the details. It is not the smug, self-satisfied tone of the filmmakers and stars that justify the disgust of every American who esteems truth as the gold standard of political discourse. Simply, the film is a blatant piece of anti-conservative propaganda.

We can all forget the title or plot of a movie, but individual scenes can linger on, coloring our perceptions of specific subjects for a lifetime. Some Hollywood producers are more insidious than politicians — the cover of “art” offers a much broader framework for spreading liberal propaganda than a mere stump speech or daily news soundbite.

The following are the most pertinent scenes from Game Change, though far too many remain to recount here.

Before the opening credits are over, we see that one of the film's producers is Tom Hanks. Yes, the amiable guy next door and Obama fundraiser of the highest order. His efforts alone don't preclude an objective look at Governor Palin, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
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