Sunday, January 17, 2021

Federal crime in the United States Will there be a double-standard? January 17, 2021


Federal crime in the United States
Jump to navigationJump to searchIn the United States, a federal crime or federal offense is an act that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation. Prosecution happens at both the federal and the state levels (based on the Dual sovereignty doctrine) and so a "federal crime" is one that is prosecuted under federal criminal law and not under state criminal law under which most of the crimes committed in the United States are prosecuted.

That includes many acts for which, if they did not occur on U.S. federal property or on Indian reservations or were not specifically penalized, would either not be crimes or fall under state or local law. Some crimes are listed in Title 18 of the United States Code (the federal criminal and penal code), but others fall under other titles. For instance, tax evasion...
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Federal Bureau of Investigation Seal. The FBI is the main agency responsible for investigating federal offenses.

Saturday, January 16, 2021

How deep is the ideology? Local level, State Level, National Level. Top FEMA official attended Trump's 'Stop the Steal' rally





At that rally, Trump urged his followers to “fight” and march to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, where hundreds broke into the Capitol building in a riot that left five people dead.

The official, Chris Grisafe, told staff this week that he attended the rally to show his support for the outgoing president, and has claimed that he did not move with the crowd from the rally area near the White House to the Capitol grounds.

Grisafe’s attendance at the Jan. 6 rally alarmed some FEMA staff, according to one person familiar with the matter, and several employees reported it to the DHS Inspector General and the FBI.

Grisafe currently serves as one of FEMA’s top political appointees in the role of associate administrator for resilience, where he helps “oversee and manage FEMA’s national preparedness, mitigation, insurance, continuity and grant programs,” according to his official biography. The Coast Guard veteran was part of the response efforts for Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita and served at the Pentagon in a variety of advisory roles before joining FEMA last August.

A FEMA spokesperson said in a statement that Grisafe “was on personal leave on January 6. FEMA does not comment on how employees choose to spend their personal time.” The spokesperson noted that Grisafe “was not present at the Inauguration security briefing with the vice president” that took place on Thursday, but did not elaborate on whether he has been involved more generally in FEMA’s efforts to “promote an enhanced preparedness posture” for the Inauguration.

The DHS OIG did not return a request for comment. The FBI declined to comment.FEMA announced in a press release on Thursday that it has been “fully engaged” and “actively coordinating with our state, local and federal partners in support of the 59th Presidential Inauguration,” and “has provided planning, training and exercise support to our federal, state and local partners” leading up to the Inauguration.

Lawmakers have been pressing federal agencies to investigate whether anyone in their ranks took part in the Jan. 6 riot. In a statement to POLITICO, House Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson didn’t reference Grisafe but said any Trump official who may have participated in “the attack on the Capitol” should be barred from any aspect of Inauguration security.
“Not only should they resign, but law enforcement must also be alerted,” Thompson said.

Chairman Thompson Op-Ed: Why the Senate must confirm Biden's Homeland Security pick on Day 1. And FEMA Administrator. January 16, 2021



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Chairman Thompson Op-Ed: Why the Senate must confirm Biden's Homeland Security pick on Day 1

 

By Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security

January 15, 2021

CNN

   

In nearly 28 years in Congress -- including six spent as chair of the US House Committee on Homeland Security -- I have never experienced a day quite like that which my colleagues and I endured last Wednesday. Having lived through 9/11 and other attacks, most Americans have little difficulty appreciating the threat of foreign terrorism and the need to vigilantly guard against it. But never in our lifetimes has the threat of domestic terrorism struck so close to the bedrock of our nation.

 

Given this unprecedented domestic assault, the lingering atmosphere of lawlessness and intimidation in our capital and the credible threat of additional violence directed at our national government and statehouses across the country in the days ahead, it would be an abdication of our most vital responsibility to the American people to further compromise their security and that of our republic in this moment. To ensure Americans' safety and fulfill the oath of office, the US Senate must move quickly to confirm Alejandro Mayorkas to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security.

 

The Cuban-born Mayorkas, 61, was among President-elect Joe Biden's first picks for his Cabinet in late November. He is not an unknown commodity, and he is one of the most knowledgeable homeland security experts in the country.

 

Under former President Barack Obama, Mayorkas served as both the DHS deputy secretary and the head of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency within the department. And prior to his time in DHS, he was a US attorney in the Central District of California. In sum, Mayorkas is a deeply experienced leader, hailed by both Democrats and Republicans, who has been previously confirmed by the Senate on three occasions to serve in his previous roles. If confirmed, he'd become the first Latino and immigrant to serve at the helm of DHS.

 

As deputy secretary of the agency, he helped lead a successful effort to guard against terror attacks, enhance our nation's cybersecurity and strengthen cooperation between the federal national security apparatus and state and local agencies. That proven record and crisis-tested experience is why Mayorkas has been endorsed by a broad, bipartisan range of former national security officials and law enforcement organizations -- and it's why we need him back on the job today.

 

This is no time for delays or political gamesmanship -- not when American lives, and the American way of life, are on the line. By moving swiftly to confirm Mayorkas, Congress can send a clear message to all those who seek to intimidate or inflict violence upon our nation: that they can no longer exploit our political divisions to assault the principles that unite us. Of course, more important than the message is the practical imperative -- it is crucial that we have a highly qualified, capable Homeland Security secretary in place on Day 1 to safeguard our nation and protect us against all manner of threats.

 

It's no mystery why nominees to lead our national security agencies are historically given confirmation votes no later than Inauguration Day -- as Obama's and President Donald Trump's Homeland Security nominees were confirmed on January 20 of 2009 and 2017, respectively.

 

America's enemies, both foreign and domestic, thrive on and are emboldened by any inkling of chaos, dysfunction or vacuums of vigilant leadership in our security capabilities. Having a qualified, competent secretary of Homeland Security at the helm right away is critical even at times when threats are relatively quiet. Having one at the helm under today's conditions may well be an existential necessity.

 

Given the blaring threat of further violence following last week's attack -- to say nothing of ongoing foreign terrorism threats, a pending crisis at our border and the massive cyberattack recently perpetrated by Russia against our government and private sector -- there is simply no excuse to delay a vote on the confirmation of Mayorkas.

 

In this vulnerable moment for our nation, having seen the deadly reality of the threat up close, I implore my colleagues in the Senate to come together on behalf of the American people, follow historical practice and confirm our next secretary of Homeland Security as soon as possible.

 

#  #  #

 


Friday, January 15, 2021

Biden selects NYC Emergency Commissioner Criswell to run FEMA. January 15, 2021


Previous FCO (Federal Coordinating Officer) a plus for communities and States served in that capacity.

BEMA International

Photo by: AP Photo/NYC.gov
President-elect Joe Biden; NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Deanne Criswell

Posted at 7:15 AM, Jan 15, 2021
 
and last updated 7:34 AM, Jan 15, 2021

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden is nominating New York emergency department commissioner Deanne Criswell to serve as the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator and has tapped former CIA deputy director David Cohen to return to the agency in the same role he served during the Obama administration.

The picks, along with a trio of other new nominations confirmed to The Associated Press by the Biden team, come as the president-elect is putting a premium on experience, and perhaps familiarity, as he looks to fill out top positions at federal agencies with less than a week to go before his inauguration.

Biden also is tapping former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler to help lead Operation Warp Speed, the government's vaccine development program, according to a report Friday in The New York Times. Kessler has been advising Biden as a co-chair of his advisory board on the coronavirus pandemic.

Criswell, who also spent more than five years in top posts at FEMA during the Obama administration, is the first woman nominated to head the agency, whose primary responsibility is to coordinate responses to major disasters inside the United States that require federal attention. Nancy Ward served as the agency's acting administrator in the early months of the Obama administration before his pick, Craig Fugate, could be confirmed.

Cohen, who was deputy CIA director from 2015 to 2017, has traveled the world for years tracking money flowing to terror groups, such as the Islamic State group, and other bad actors on the international stage. His work directing the Treasury Department’s intelligence unit earlier in his career earned him the nicknames of “financial batman” and “sanctions guru.”

In 2019, Cohen, who has been leading the financial and business integrity group at the law firm WilmerHale, made a cameo appearance on the HBO series “Game of Thrones.”

Nominees are required to disclose details of their finances and complete ethics agreements as part of the confirmation process. Once confirmed, federal ethics laws can require the officials to recuse themselves from working on issues that could impact their previous business interests.

Biden throughout the 2020 campaign lashed at President Donald Trump, saying he eroded public trust in government. Biden pledged his team will abide by “the highest ethical standards.”

Cohen is not a registered lobbyist, but his firm does millions of dollars in lobbying work each year on behalf of clients that include the Beer Institute, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Walgreens and American Financial Group.

The president-elect is also nominating Shalanda Young, the top staff aide for the House Appropriations Committee, to serve as deputy director at the Office of Management and Budget and Jason Miller, who was deputy director of the White House National Economic Council in Obama's administration, to serve as deputy director for management at the agency.

Young brings a wealth of Capitol Hill experience in budget policy — and politics — to the budget office, along with close relationships with powerful House Democrats like Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Miller was steeped in manufacturing policy in the Obama administration, including an update of automobile fuel efficiency standards.

Biden is tapping Janet McCabe, an environmental law and policy expert who spent more than seven years as a top official at the Environmental Protection Agency during the Obama administration to return to the agency as deputy administrator.

“Each of them brings a deep respect for the civil servants who keep our republic running, as well as a keen understanding of how the government can and should work for all Americans,” Biden said of his picks in a statement. “I am confident that they will hit the ground running on day one with determination and bold thinking to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.”

Criswell has served as New York City’s emergency management commissioner since June 2019. In her earlier work at FEMA, Criswell served as the leader of one of the agency’s National Incident Management Assistance Teams and as a federal coordinating officer. In New York, part of her duties included leading the coordination of the city’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between her stints at FEMA and in New York, Criswell was a principal at Cadmus Group, a firm that provides homeland security management consulting and training services for federal, state and local government agencies and private sector companies. The company made about $68 million between the time she joined the firm in 2017 and when she left in June 2019, according to a tabulation of contract spending data from the site USASpending.gov.

She also served as the head of the Office of Emergency Management for the city of Aurora, Colorado. Criswell also served in the Colorado Air National Guard, including 21 years as a firefighter and deputy fire chief with deployments to Qatar, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

1954 United States Capitol shooting March 1, 1954, March 1, 1954,

1954 United States Capitol shooting


The 1954 United States Capitol shooting was a terrorist attack on March 1, 1954, by four Puerto Rican nationalists wanting Puerto Rico's independence from US rule. They shot 30 rounds from semi-automatic pistols from the Ladies' Gallery (a balcony for visitors) of the House of Representatives chamber in the United States Capitol.

The nationalists, identified as Lolita LebrónRafael Cancel MirandaAndres Figueroa Cordero, and Irvin Flores Rodríguez, unfurled a Puerto Rican flag and began shooting at Representatives in the 83rd Congress, who were debating an immigration bill. Five Representatives were wounded, one seriously, but all recovered. The assailants were arrested, tried and convicted in federal court, and given long sentences, effectively life imprisonment. In 1978 and 1979, their sentences were commuted by President Jimmy Carter.[2] All four returned to Puerto Rico.

SEDITION. Shall there be a double standard for those that participated Wednesday, January 6, 2021?

SEDITION.

Shall there be a double standard for those that participated Wednesday, January 6, 2021?
CDS 

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2384 

" If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 1, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)"

Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $20,000”.
1956—Act July 24, 1956, substituted “$20,000” for “$5,000”, and “twenty years” for “six years”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 1956 Amendment

Act July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 3, 70 Stat. 624, provided that:
“The foregoing amendments [amending this section and section 2385 of this title] shall apply only with respect to offenses committed on and after the date of the enactment of this Act [July 24, 1956].”

Saturday, January 9, 2021

How Capitol Police handled a Black woman in 2013. Her name is Miriam Carey.

 https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/politics/elections/miriam-carey-capitol-police-trump-capitol-riots/65-7ba91013-d0ee-46f5-b7f9-87afa7273c40




Carey, 34, originally from Connecticut, struck a security barrier with her car at 15th and E Streets NW, one block from the White House. Officials don't know if she deliberately rammed the barrier or simply sideswiped it, according to CBS News.

The collision led to a chase, from near the White House to the Capitol, ending with officers opening fire and shooting at her 26 times from behind, including a fatal shot to the back of her head on October 3, 2013. Her 13-month-old baby was in the car but unharmed.