Judge Finds DOJ Violated Federal Law with Certain Mueller Report Redactions; Orders Pages Released Before Election
Jerry LambeOct 1st, 2020, 1:14 pm

https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/wake-county-news/garner-man-named-companies-after-game-of-thrones-characters-in-covid-relief-fraud-scheme-feds-say/

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Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, a George W. Bush appointee who previously read the entire Mueller report and ordered the DOJ to answer a spreadsheet full of questions about the report’s publicly hidden contents, reasoned that the DOJ improperly redacted sections of the report pursuant to the deliberative process privilege contained in Exemption 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

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Exemption 5—which has also been used to withhold a memo outlining DOJ’s legal position against charging President Donald Trump with obstruction—allows for the withholding of, among other things, information relating to the “deliberative process.” The DOJ invoked the privilege to withhold documents it said would have revealed “criminal charges considered but not pursued against certain named individuals under investigation.”

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“The Department has withheld information regarding decisions that were already final, rendering the withheld information as information that was ‘made after the decision and designed to explain it,’ which the Supreme Court has held is not privileged,” Walton wrote, citing to a 1975 U.S. Supreme Court case which stated that the “distinction between predecisional communications, which are privileged, and communications made after the decision and designed to explain it, which are not.”

“As the Department candidly indicates, the information withheld reflects Special Counsel Mueller’s deliberations about decisions not to prosecute—information that falls within the latter category that the Supreme Court has held is not privileged,” Walton continued. “Accordingly, the Court denies the Department’s motion for summary judgment as to this information and grants the plaintiffs’ motions for summary judgment for its production, and concludes that the Department must disclose the information redacted pursuant to Exemption 5, unless such information has been properly withheld pursuant to another exemption.”

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Read the full decision at link.

"Will you shut up, man!!!

2 White Men Accused of Chasing Down, Shooting at Black Teens Riding ATVs
By Jocelyn Grzeszczak On 9/29/20 at 4:22 PM EDT

https://www.newsweek.com/2-white-men-accused-chasing-down-shooting-black-teens-riding-atvs-1535094


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Wade Twiner, 48, and his 22-year-old son Lane were arrested Sunday by Warren County sheriff's deputies on three counts of aggravated assault each, according to inmate records. If convicted of the felony crime, they could both face up to 20 years in prison, according to state law.

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The teen described how he could still hear the gunshots and feel the moment the Twiners' truck allegedly hit his ATV. At one point, the teen said he could see a man shooting at him from the driver's side and the other shooting at him across the truck's roof from the passenger side.

Yazoo County Sheriff Jacob Sheriff confirmed the teen's account, telling WLBT: "Wade Oscar Twiner and his son Lane Twiner pursued them and tried to stop them and to shoot them and bump them with the four wheeler, so they were charged with aggravated assault."

The Twiners reportedly told authorities that they owned land on both sides of Judkins Road and paid taxes, and therefore shouldn't have to deal with people riding ATVs on the road because it's against the law, Sheriff said.

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it'll be monumental!!!

https://twitter.com/robertjdenault/status/1309285387915923458

Robert J. DeNault
@robertjdenault
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3h
Ahead of hearing at 2nd Circuit tmrw, Manhattan DA says they are investigating why “between 2004-2014, Trump faced billions in liabilities and yet somehow had money to purchase ‘five houses, eight golf courses and a winery,’ including land in Scotland, for $400 million in cash.”

Robert J. DeNault
@robertjdenault
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3h
More: in motion supporting its investigation, DA points to public reports that Trump’s money spree was “facilitated by ‘unconventional’ borrowing beginning in 2012.” This is for the second round of Trump’s appeal to block the DA from obtaining his tax and accounting records.

Robert J. DeNault
@robertjdenault
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3h
“Reports allege that in 2012, Trump Org entities paid $48 million in satisfaction of $130 million debt related to Trump Tower Chicago. The Trump Org *claimed publicly* it purchased the rest of the debt and that it remains on Trump books as a debt from one subsidiary to another.”

Robert J. DeNault
@robertjdenault
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3h
Note that DA wrote Trump Org “claimed publicly” it bought rest of the debt. This debt has long been the source of scrutiny by news outlets and other financial experts. It made no sense. Did something else happen behind closed doors?

Robert J. DeNault
@robertjdenault
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3h
Manhattan DA has gone to great lengths to maintain secrecy of its probe. It subpoenaed Deutsche Bank docs a year ago—no one knew until August 2020. In motion, it points to specific public reporting to explain and justify its work in order to avoid revealing anything. And yet...

Robert J. DeNault
@robertjdenault
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3h
There are hundreds—if not thousands—of reports about Trump’s finances. The ones the DA is choosing to cite directly to support its investigation aren’t random. They are breadcrumbs.

DA showing what the investigation is targeting without breaking secrecy or revealing its hand.

https://twitter.com/maddowblog/status/1308948442585198592

Maddow Blog
@MaddowBlog
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31m
"This is a moment that I would say to any Republican of good conscience working in the administration, it is time for you to resign." - @RepAdamSchiff

RBG And The Young Women Who Loved Her

Ruth Bader Ginsburg loomed large in American culture during the final years of her life, perhaps no larger than in the minds of young women.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rbg-young-women_n_5f6a54a8c5b6718910f2382a

By Rebecca Klein


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Photo courtesy of Leyla Fern King
Leyla Fern King dresses up as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, complete with a white collar and gavel.



King first started looking up to Ruth Bader Ginsburg two summers ago, when an extracurricular leadership program she was involved with got to participate in a Q&A with the Supreme Court justice. King remembers Ginsburg as being diminutive but commanding of the room, staying until the audience’s last question was answered and peppering her stories with witty quips. The teen, a member of her school’s student court, began to connect Ginsburg’s experiences to her own. King had spent her first year on student court as the youngest and only girl, and she was often timid about voicing her thoughts.



Ginsburg loomed large in American culture during the final years of her life, perhaps no larger than in the minds of young women in K-12 schools and beyond. These women, more than half a century Ginsburg’s junior and born into a world far kinder to women, say the justice’s experiences fighting gender discrimination remains relevant today.



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Photo courtesy of Krista Threefoot
Twelve-year-old Michele Threefoot calls Ginsburg one of her heroes.


Ava Farquhar dressed up as Ginsburg for her high school senior photo ID. She first learned about Ginsburg while listening to “More Perfect,” a podcast about the Supreme Court. The 19-year-old has since gone on to study engineering at Michigan Technical University, a school that is comprised of 70% men. She learned about Ginsburg’s death on the radio while riding in the car with a friend.

Farquhar said she thinks of Ginsburg every time she is the only girl in the room, a frequent occurrence at her STEM-focused school.



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Photo courtesy of Ava Farquhar
Ava Farquhar dresses up as Ginsburg.

King is now the chief justice on her student court, but it took about three years before she felt comfortable and confident in voicing her opinions in the setting — a confidence that Ginsburg always seemed to have, she said.