The ugly truth about Cory Booker, New Jersey’s golden boy
It’s eight o’clock on a Sunday night in Jersey City, and for the first time this October it’s cold enough to see your breath in front of you with a deep exhale of the Hudson River air. It’s curious, given that, to see a group of a few dozen residents and visitors from neighboring towns assembled in a parking lot next to the train station—while the New York Giants are playing, no less. The workout-gear-clad mayor, Steven Fulop, is hopping up and down with his arms crossed over his chest for warmth, asking me when I think “he” will arrive. (Nuzzi/The Daily Beast)
FBI: Cuban Intelligence Aggressively Recruiting Leftist American Academics as Spies, Influence Agents
Sexual entrapment a common tactic
An automobile drives by the Capitol in Havana, Cuba / AP
BY: Bill Gertz
September 5, 2014 5:00 am
Cuba’s communist-led intelligence services are aggressively recruiting leftist American academics and university professors as spies and influence agents, according to an internal FBI report published this week.
Cuban intelligence services “have perfected the work of placing agents, that includes aggressively targeting U.S. universities under the assumption that a percentage of students will eventually move on to positions within the U.S. government that can provide access to information of use to the [Cuban intelligence service],” the five-page unclassified FBI report says. It notes that the Cubans “devote a significant amount of resources to targeting and exploiting U.S. academia.”
“Academia has been and remains a key target of foreign intelligence services, including the [Cuban intelligence service],” the report concludes.
One recruitment method used by the Cubans is to appeal to American leftists’ ideology. “For instance, someone who is allied with communist or leftist ideology may assist the [Cuban intelligence service] because of his/her personal beliefs,” the FBI report, dated Sept. 2, said.
FBI Examining Whether Russia Is Tied to JPMorgan Hacking
By Michael Riley and Jordan Robertson Aug 27, 2014 5:04 PM ET
Russian hackers attacked the U.S. financial system in mid-August, infiltrating and stealing data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and at least one other bank, an incident the FBI is investigating as a possible retaliation for government-sponsored sanctions, according to two people familiar with the probe.
The attack resulted in the loss of gigabytes of sensitive data, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the probe is still preliminary. Authorities are investigating whether recent infiltrations of major European banks using a similar vulnerability are also linked to the attack, one of the people said.
In one case, the hackers used a software flaw known as a zero-day vulnerability in one of the banks’ websites. They then plowed through layers of elaborate security to steal the data, a feat security experts said appeared far beyond the capability of ordinary criminal hackers. The incidents occurred at a low point in relations between Russia and the West. Russian troops continue to mass on the Ukrainian border and the West tightens sanctions aimed at crippling Russian companies, including some of the country’s most important banks.
Obama’s FBI to hire firm to rate ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ stories about the agency
Officials mum on need for and use of such info
The FBI is hiring a contractor to grade news stories about the agency as “positive” “neutral” or “negative,” but the agency won’t say why officials need the information or what they plan to do with it.
FBI officials wouldn’t even reveal how they will go about assigning the grades, which were laid out in a recent contract solicitation. The contract tells potential bidders to “use their judgment” in scoring news coverage as part of a new “daily news briefing” service the agency is seeking as part of a contract that could last up to five years.
The move is reminiscent of a similar effort the Obama administration made to grade media coverage of its response to the BP oil spill. A separate defense contract rating reporters’ work was scrapped in 2009.
In a statement of work, the agency says its public affairs office needs a contractor to help monitor “breaking news, editorials, long-form journalism projects and the larger public conversation about law enforcement.”
But the lack of clear public methods and goals raises “troubling questions,” said Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University.
“You would certainly worry this could affect access,” he said. “It might affect the way they’re going to approach your questions, whether they’re going to be extra careful not to make news if you’re on the ‘bad list.’”
Mr. Kennedy also pointed out that journalism can be nuanced and complicated, raising questions about what sort of guidance the agency provides to contractors to fit stories into positive, neutral or negative boxes.
“If you’re rigorously fair about it and you’re getting the FBI’s point of view out there, they would probably write that as a negative story, but it strikes me as neutral,” he said.
The Filthy Four! Democrats Who Have Been Arrested Or Raided By The FBI This Week!
Four Democrats have taken the “culture of corruption” and made it into a full-blown political movement this week by committing acts that made the FBI either arrest them or raid their offices and homes. Murder-for-hire, gun trafficking, corruption, illegal Chinese cigarettes, stealing money from the taxpayer, and chiropractic bribery – these are the favored crimes of the “Filthy Four” Democrats!
1) New York Assemblyman William Scarborough’s office raided over possible travel expense fraud
DEMOCRAT William Scarborough had his home and offices raided by the FBI in an attempt to investigate the claim that he had fudged his travel expenses and cheated the taxpayer out of thousands of dollars. So far this year he’s put in for $10,350 in total expenses, while last year he claimed $28,438 in reimbursements, and $33,986 in 2012!
Dinesh D’Souza Speculates on ‘Retribution’: ‘Vindictive’ Obama Sees Critics as Enemies
by Evan McMurry | 12:46 pm, February 22nd, 2014
Author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souzaspeculated to Megyn Kelly Friday night that FBI’sindictment of him for campaign finance fraud may be Alinsky-style political retribution for his anti-Obama film 2016. Earlier this week, four Senatorssent a letter to FBI Director James Comeydemanding an explanation for what they termed the “selective prosecution” of D’Souza.
“I am a public critic of the president and I do recognize this has made me vulnerable to a form of counterattack,” D’Souza said. He added that Obama, whom he characterized as “vindictive,” had released a video response to 2016 on his website, proving the film had gotten under the president’s skin.
FBI questions aides to Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer, report says
HOBOKEN — FBI agents have begun questioning aides to Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer as they investigate her allegations that members of the Christie administration pressured her to support a development project in exchange for Hurricane Sandy relief money, according to an NBC News report.
According to the report, Dan Bryan, Zimmer’s chief of staff, and Juan Melli, her communications director, are among at least five witnesses Zimmer told the FBI could confirm earlier conversations she said she had about the threats from the administration.
On Saturday, Zimmer told MSNBC that she was pressured by the Christie administration to approve a development deal with the Rockefeller Group, alleging Hoboken would get Sandy relief aid if she agreed to support the project. (Nix/Star-Ledger)
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