All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[Tami]

F.B.I. Arrests California Man After Threats to Kill Boston Globe Employees

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. said on Thursday that it charged a California man who threatened to kill employees of the The Boston Globe after calling them the “enemy of the people” in a series of menacing phone calls.

Robert D. Chain, 68, was arrested on Thursday at his home in Encino, Ca. The F.B.I. said Mr. Chain owned several firearms and had recently purchased a small-caliber rifle.

According to federal documents, Mr. Chain began calling The Boston Globe immediately after the newspaper announced on Aug. 10 that it would publish a coordinated editorial response to political attacks on the media. Prosecutors said the threats were in retaliation for The Globe’s leadership in the editorial campaign.

In one call to the paper’s newsroom, Mr. Chain threatened to shoot the newspaper’s employees in the head, the F.B.I. said. Three days later, in another call, Mr. Chain said: “You’re the enemy of the people.” Using profane language, he threatened to kill “every” Globe employee.

The F.B.I. said there were about 12 threatening calls made to the paper.

“Why don’t you call Mueller, maybe he can help you out, buddy,” Mr. Chain said, referring to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Again using profane language, he threatened to shoot Globe employees in the head.

That threat prompted The Boston Globe to contract with a private security firm, and officers with the Boston Police Department were dispatched to the newspaper’s office.

A statement released by Jane Bowman, a Boston Globe spokeswoman, said, “We are grateful to the F.B.I., the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Boston Police, and local authorities in California for the work they did in protecting the Globe while threats were coming in, for investigating the source, and for making this arrest. We couldn’t have asked for a stronger response.” She added that, “while it was unsettling for many of our staffers to be threatened in such a way, nobody — really, nobody — let it get in the way of the important work of this institution.”

[Iron Maiden]

Joe Biden was asked by the family of Senator John McCain to deliver the eulogy at his funeral which will start in about 20 minutes from the time of this post. His interview on the View last year will tell you why.....


Joe Biden consoles Meghan McCain on her father's cancer diagnosis

It's no wonder Trump hasn't been asked to any of these events lately....Barbara Bush's funeral or John McCain's. Joe Biden has more grace and humanity in his little toe than Trump has in his entire miserable carcass.

[BeastieRunner]

Manafort Trial #2 update (the upcoming criminal case):

Judge is allowing 30 pages of signed pages that Manafort signed agreeing he understood foreign agent and lobbying rules. They cover every year from 1986 to 2016.

Manafort Trial #1 update (the fraud case):

Defense suggested to Judge Ellis that President Trump has made it impossible for Manafort to get a fair trial. Judge will not honor dismissal of the remaining charges.

It appears Judge Ellis granted the government one more week to decide on picking up the 10 mistrials (they now have til September 5).

The seals came off.

We learned:
* Judge interviewed the jurors multiple times because one juror mentioned that the defense was "weak" but it did not warrant a mistrial. That was the cause of 90% of the delays. One juror, within earshot of another juror, commented that Manafort "has not presented any evidence of his innocence," Ellis first told the attorneys involved. The second juror reported the incident to the court, saying the juror who made the comments was "unimpressed" with Manafort's case. That second juror then asked if the judge could tell the jurors they shouldn't make comments about the case before deliberations. Ellis reminded the jurors of this during time at the beginning and end of every day of trial. After the interviews of the jurors with both sides present, Judge Ellis ruled that trial could continue. They sealed this under agreement from both sides as to not make "pandemonium" out of the current media "spectacle." Defense agreed in writing and verbally that it was a fair trial.

* One juror had medical issues, which was already noted that led to several delays.

* Manafort offered to take a plea deal in both cases, which accounted for the other 2 delays, towards the end of the trial. Ultimately, Robert Mueller himself told him no. Manafort requested the original plea deal offered to him, which was 20 years with parole. The seal indicated Mueller made the call because he did not trust that Manafort was asking for a plea deal to help the investigation but to get out of lifetime, no parole sentence.

[GOLGO 13]

Today Joe Biden was asked by the family of Senator John McCain to deliver the eulogy at his funeral which will start in about 20 minutes from the time of this post. His interview on the View last year will tell you why.....


Joe Biden consoles Meghan McCain on her father's cancer diagnosis

It's no wonder Trump hasn't been asked to any of these events lately....Barbara Bush's funeral or John McCain's. Joe Biden has more grace and humanity in his little toe than Trump has in his entire miserable carcass.

What kind of morally repugnant deviant gets banned from 2 funerals? Better yet, banned from 2 Republican funerals while also being a Republican? A Russian loving traitor that's who.

[GindyPosts]

Trump's target of the day is Lester Holt, because he "fudged" the May 2017 interview or something.

Anything short of "verbal fellatio" is negative to Orange Julius.

[MindofShadow]

* Manafort offered to take a plea deal in both cases, which accounted for the other 2 delays, towards the end of the trial. Ultimately, Robert Mueller himself told him no. Manafort requested the original plea deal offered to him, which was 20 years with parole. The seal indicated Mueller made the call because he did not trust that Manafort was asking for a plea deal to help the investigation but to get out of lifetime, no parole sentence.

ouch lol....

[Iron Maiden]

What kind of morally repugnant deviant gets banned from 2 funerals? Better yet, banned from 2 Republican funerals while also being a Republican? A Russian loving traitor that's who.

You are correct sir! I thought it very telling when it was announced that former Presidents G.W Bush and Obama were invited to also speak at the funeral. But no Trump or Mike Pence either it appears. I think he will only be at the Washington D.C service. Most likely the family has direct control of the funeral in Arizona but I guess they allowed Trump to appoint Pence to speak at the Washington service

[WestPhillyPunisher]

F.B.I. Arrests California Man After Threats to Kill Boston Globe Employees

“Enemy of the people”. Hmmm! Now where have I heard that phrase before? Oh, yeah! From Caramel Caligula of course! Trump really needs to STFU with that **** because he’s giving unbalanced loons like this Chain nutbag free reign to do what he did. God forbid a reporter is hurt or killed by some madman who took Trump’s rhetoric as marching orders to do harm upon the media.

You are correct sir! I thought it very telling when it was announced that former Presidents G.W Bush and Obama were invited to also speak at the funeral. But no Trump or Mike Pence either it appears. I think he will only be at the Washington D.C service. Most likely the family has direct control of the funeral in Arizona but I guess they allowed Trump to appoint Pence to speak at the Washington service

I think I read somewhere that Sarah Palin wasn’t invited to the precedings either.

As for Trump, Beyond the logistical nightmare that comes from having a sitting president attend public functions of any kind, nobody in their right mind wants him around to speak, not even at a funeral because he’d invariably rant and rave about himself. Meanwhile, I haven’t ruled out the possibility Trump will hold one of his half assed rallies on the day of McCain’s burial so he can recapture the limelight. He’s just petty and spiteful enough to do that.

[Iron Maiden]

I'm surprised that one hasn't been announced yet. But I think the Washington services on Saturday so I doubt Trump will miss his usual round or two of golf.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Here’s something that’s sure to stick in the craw of both Trump and his BFF Bad Vlad:

McCain's choice of Russian dissident as pallbearer is final dig at Putin, Trump

[Tami]

Bank of America freezing accounts of customers suspected of not being US citizens

Saeed Moshfegh woke up earlier this month to discover the strangest thing: though he had plenty of money in his Bank of America account, he couldn’t access it.

An Iranian getting his Ph.D in physics at the University of Miami, Moshfegh used the account for everyday transactions. All he had to do to maintain the account was show proof of legal residency every six months.

“I think it’s onerous, but I’d been doing it,” said Moshfegh, who has lived in the U.S. for the past seven years. He recently married an American.

That Thursday, Moshfegh went to his local branch near South Miami. He was told that the documentation he had provided could not be accepted. Bank officials insisted he produce a different form, according to Moshfegh. The bank was wrong, he maintains, because the form he had supplied was the correct one based on his current status as a student nearing graduation.

“This bank doesn’t know how the immigration system works, so they didn’t accept my document,” said Moshfegh, 36.

Locked out of his account, Moshfegh couldn’t pay his rent, which was due that week. Credit card payments were suddenly rejected.

His case isn’t unique. In recent months, Bank of America has been accused of freezing or threatening to freeze customers’ accounts after asking about their legal status in the U.S.. In July, the Washington Post reported that multiple customers had been locked out of their accounts after Bank of America questioned whether the account holders were U.S. citizens or dual citizens.

[BeastieRunner]

Bank of America freezing accounts of customers suspected of not being US citizens

Is that legal ... !?

[Tami]

Is that legal ... !?

Probably not.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Bank of America freezing accounts of customers suspected of not being US citizens

It seems unlikely to me that Bank of America decided to do this out of the clear blue one morning. That leads me to wonder who leaned on them to enact this scheme, ICE? DOJ? Both? Even more worrisome, will other banks follow suit?

[JCAll]

Is that legal ... !?

Everything is legal if there's no one to stop them.