George Soros foundations now control $18 billion: reports

Investor George Soros has transferred about $18 billion, the majority of his estimated fortune, to his Open Society Foundations, making them the second largest philanthropic grant-making group in the United States, according to media reports on Tuesday.
The foundations already controlled billions of dollars, but Soros, 87, has in recent years increased the pace of transfers from his hedge fund-turned-family office, Soros Fund Management LLC, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported earlier on Tuesday, citing Open Society officials.
Representatives for Open Society did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
Open Society works globally to “build vibrant and tolerant democracies” and has given away nearly $14 billion since inception in 1979, according to its website.
Hungarian-born Soros, who made a huge profit betting against an overvalued British pound in 1992, is a vocal supporter of liberal causes and was a large contributor to the fund-raising Super PAC group backing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton last year.
Soros early this year hired former UBS Group AG asset management executive Dawn Fitzpatrick to serve as the latest chief investment officer for New York-based Soros Fund Management, which also manages money for Open Society.
Only the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is now larger than Open Society among U.S. grant-making groups, with an endowment of about $40 billion.
Soros is worth an estimated $23 billion, according to Forbes.

Anthony Weiner laptop had 2,800 gov't documents from Huma Abedin: Report

The FBI reportedly found 2,800 government documents on disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner's personal laptop computer that were related to his estranged wife's work as Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff during her tenure as secretary of state.

The conservative group Judicial Watch reported Tuesday that the State Department received the documents from the FBI after Judicial Watch sued the department when it failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The documents were sent to Weiner's computer by Huma Abedin, a revelation that came to light in the closing days of last year's presidential campaign.
"This is a disturbing development. Our experience with Abedin’s emails suggest these Weiner laptop documents will include classified and other sensitive materials," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. "When will the Justice Department do a serious investigation of Hillary Clinton’s and Huma Abedin’s obvious violations of law?"
Judicial Watch initially sued the State Department in May 2015, after it failed to respond to a request to produce all official emails sent or received by Abedin using a non-government address.
In a court filing, the State Department said it expected to review and produce the entire cache of 2,800 documents by the end of this year. However, the government filing also suggests that some of the material is "duplicative" of other records that have already been made public.
Last month, Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to sending sexually explicit texts across state lines to a 15-year-old girl. Similar indiscretions, first as a congressman and then as a candidate for New York City mayor, had scuppered Weiner's political career.
Abedin filed for divorce from Weiner earlier this year.

Gowdy wants Comey to testify again following Clinton email draft release

Following the FBI’s release of documents confirming that former FBI Director James Comey began drafting a letter on the Hillary Clinton email investigation months before completing several interviews, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. said Comey needs to testify before Congress again.

Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and a member of the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committee, told Fox News’ Bret Baier on “Special Report” Tuesday night that “for a number of reasons” Comey should return to Capitol Hill and the committees needed to further examine the FBI memos before he did.

“Whenever somebody decides to charge someone, there are lots of layers of scrutiny. When you decide not to charge someone, there aren’t that many layers of scrutiny but there ought to be at least a couple,” Gowdy said. “The media should do it but also Congress should look at this decision not to charge and whether or not it was made before you interviewed two dozen witnesses, including the target of the investigation, yeah we need to talk to him again.”
COMEY INSISTED NO ‘SPECIAL’ RULES IN FBI CLINTON PROBE – WHIEL DRAFTING ‘EXONERATION STATEMENT’
According to Gowdy, the timeline of events and some of Comey’s decisions along the way did not appear to add up. He was referring to Comey’s statement during his June congressional testimony in which he said the tarmac meeting between former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton encouraged him to announce his findings in the email investigation.
“His ostensible reason for taking that decision away from the Department of Justice was that meeting on the tarmac but yet a month and a half earlier he is memorializing a decision he’s already made so the chronology does not add up,” Gowdy said. “His answers have been all over the map.”
Gowdy also told the Fox News anchor that he not only wants to talk to Comey, but also plans to speak to his former colleagues.
When asked whether Loretta Lynch, who is expected to be on Capitol Hill Friday concerning the Russia investigation, would be asked about Comey’s email draft, Gowdy said she would not.
COMEY DRAFTED LETTER ON CLINTON EMAIL INVESTIGATION BEFORE COMPLETING INTERVIEWS, FBI CONFIRMS
But he said there were “lots of reasons” to talk to her as well, in that she could “corroborate or contradict Comey’s recollection” about their conversation regarding his decision to make the announcement.
Baier’s interview also touched on Gowdy’s investigation into Samantha Power, the former ambassador to the United Nations during the Obama administration, and her office’s request to unmask at least 260 individuals heard on surveillance recordings.
Gowdy said during questioning, Power testified that she had not personally made all of the requests, despite them being filed under her name. He said the committee had to find out whether someone else in the intelligence community was actually behind those requests.

Report: IRS refuses to give back $59G to vet after seizing his business cash

FILE: Exterior of the Internal Revenue Service's headquarters in Washington, D.C. A military veteran reportedly said the agency took about $60G from his business in an raid that yielded no charges.  (Reuters)

The Internal Revenue Service is reportedly refusing to give back more than $59,000 to U.S. military veteran after it seized his gas station’s cash during a raid that found no evidence of criminal activity.

Oh Suk Kwon, 73, a South Korea immigrant who came to the U.S. back in the 1970s and served four years as a fleet mechanic in the U.S. army, bought a gas station in Maryland in 2007 following decades of work at an electrical plant as an auto mechanic.

“When I came to the United States, I had to do something for the country,” he told the Washington Post. He later became a U.S. citizen.
Following an honorable discharge, he continued pursuing the American dream, telling the paper: “My whole life was work, work, work.”
But just several years after opening the gas station, IRS investigators seized all the station’s cash – more than $59,000 – leaving the Kwon family cash-strapped, even though no evidence of criminal wrongdoing was found by the government, the paper reported.
After the IRS investigation ended, the station went bankrupt, Kwon’s wife passed away, and the IRS changed its policy regarding seizures like this; but the agency is still refusing to hand back Kwon his money.
His problems with the IRS started in 2011 when investigators showed up at his doorstep accusing him making money deposits in increments of less than $10,000 – a practice known as “structuring."
Structuring is commonly used by terror groups in order to avoid scrutiny. The government requires banks to report all transactions larger than $10,000 under the 1970 Banking Secrecy Act.

"They did it for money, and they destroyed a good and honest man. It is shameful."

- Attorney Edward Griffin

“Of all the cases I have worked on, this one stands out for me,” Kwon’s attorney Edward Griffin told The Post. “I firmly believe that the government did wrong in choosing to prosecute Mr. Kwon and seize his assets. There was no good policy purpose for the prosecution. They did it for money, and they destroyed a good and honest man. It is shameful. Which is why I am still fighting for him.”
A spokesman for the IRS said Kwon pleaded guilty to the structuring charge. Kwon said he merely followed the advice given by a local bank, which suggested making smaller deposits to avoid paperwork.
He told the paper the guilty plea ruined his life. He said he also felt shame after the investigators spoke with his neighbors, forcing later to move out of the neighborhood.
“They saw me as Korean. As a veteran,” he told The Post. “They were surprised to see me as a criminal. I will never forget that.”
It remains unclear whether he will get his money back. His attorney petitioned the IRS and Department of Justice this summer, but the request to hand back the money was not granted, citing lack of “additional information.”

New York Times Cartoons

Trump slams 'failing' New York Times reporter for ignoring successes on trade, climate

President Trump on Sunday criticized a New York Times story stating that he has failed to fulfill campaign promises on undoing key Obama administration policies, calling the newspaper “failing” and pointing to early successes like exiting the international Paris climate accord and getting conservative Judge Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.

“The Failing @nytimes, in a story by Peter Baker, should have mentioned the rapid terminations by me of TPP & The Paris Accord & the fast ... approvals of The Keystone XL & Dakota Access pipelines” Trump said in a two-part tweet. “Also, look at the recent EPA cancelations & our great new Supreme Court Justice!”

In a story Sunday titled, “Promise the Moon? Easy for Trump. But Now Comes the Reckoning,” Baker points out that Trump, on his winning 2016 presidential campaign trail, called ObamaCare “outrageous” and the 2015 international Iran nuclear deal led by former President Barack Obama “one of the worst and one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
However, nearly nine months into his presidency, Trump has yet to dismantle either, though he took steps last week to address both with or without the help of his Republican-controlled Congress.
Beyond pointing out that he exited the Paris climate deal last month, Trump, in his tweets Sunday, touted the prompt approval of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, which were held up during Obama’s administration by lengthy environmental and approval processes.
Trump also pointed out that in March he ended U.S. involvement in the TPP, or the Trans Pacific Partnership, the 2016 international trade deal that he argued was unfair to the U.S.
And he pointed out recent efforts, under his orders, for the Environmental Protection Agency to roll back regulations on the domestic fossil fuel industry.
Baker is The Times’ chief White House correspondent and is billed as a straight-news reporter.
Last month, the newspaper published a Baker story titled, “A Divider, Not a Uniter, Trump Widens the Breach,” that reads like what could be considered an opinion piece.
Baker referred to  Trump as an “apostle of anger” and “deacon of divisiveness,” before noting that the president’s recent comments about athletes protesting the national anthem “distract from other matters, particularly Congress’ efforts on health care reform."
When reached by Fox News, Baker defended his comments as “analysis rather than opinion,” referring to it as “an observation” based on covering Trump for the past eight months.
The Times did not respond when Fox News asked if Baker is still considered a straight-news reporter.
The Baker article also details the groups that Trump has offended, including the media industry, the National Football League and Hollywood, among many others.
Baker previously had covered the White House for 15 years in the past, but moved out of the country in 2016 to serve as the paper’s Jerusalem bureau chief. Shortly after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton on Election Day, he was recalled to beef up the Times’ White House team during the Trump administration.
Trump has previously referred to the Times as “failing,” and many media watchdogs feel liberal bias is showing.

Hillary Clinton defends kneeling NFL players, says 'that's not against our anthem or flag'

Idiot

Hillary Clinton speaking in London on Sunday.  (Southbank Centre's London Literature Festival)

Hillary Clinton on Sunday defended NFL players who knelt during the national anthem, saying kneeling is a “reverent” position that is not against “our anthem or our flag.”

The former Democratic presidential candidate, who was at the Southbank Centre's London Literature Festival, urged Democrats to use the issue against President Trump.

Clinton was embarking on a foreign trip to promote her book “What Happened.”
She said people should resist “what are very clear dog-whistles” to the Trump base, pointing to the example of kneeling NFL players.
“That's what black athletes kneeling was all about,” she said in response to a question about ways to resist the White House. ”That's not against our anthem or our flag.”
“Actually, kneeling is a reverent position,” she continued. “It was to demonstrate in a peaceful way against racism and injustice in our criminal system.”
Clinton urged the Democratic Party to continue to “resist” the president, saying “I think it would be a grave error for Democrats to recede from those fights, so therefore we have to stand up, fight back, resist.”
Clinton went on to compare the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections to the September 11 terrorist attack.
“We have really well-respected security and intelligence veterans saying this was a kind of cyber 9/11 in the sense that it was a direct attack to American institutions,” she said. “That may sound dramatic but we know they tried to recruit into election systems, not just social media propaganda.”

North Korea diplomacy will continue 'until the first bomb drops,' Tillerson says

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview Sunday that the Trump administration will continue to pursue diplomacy with Pyongyang “until the first bomb drops.”

Tillerson did not specify whether the U.S. or North Korea would have to pull the trigger. He told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he wants the issue “solved diplomatically.”

“He’s (Trump) not seeking to go to war,” he said. “He has made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts… until the first bomb drops.”
That statement comes despite President Trump's tweets a couple of weeks ago that his chief envoy was "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with "Little Rocket Man," a mocking nickname Trump has given the nuclear-armed nation's leader Kim Jong Un.
"I think he does want to be clear with Kim Jong-un and that regime in North Korea that he has military preparations ready to go and he has those military options on the table. And we have spent substantial time actually perfecting those," Tillerson said.
Recent mixed messaging from the top of the U.S. government has raised concerns about the potential for miscalculation amid the increasingly bellicose exchange of words by Trump and the North Korean leader.
Trump told the U.N. General Assembly last month that if the U.S. is "forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea." Trump also tweeted that Korea's leadership "won't be around much longer" if it continued its provocations, a declaration that led the North's foreign minister to assert that Trump had "declared war on our country."
Tillerson acknowledged during a recent trip to Beijing that the Trump administration was keeping open direct channels of communications with North Korea and probing the North's willingness to talk. He provided no elaboration about those channels or the substance of any discussions.
Soon after, Trump took to Twitter, saying he had told "our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man ... Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" Trump offered no further explanation, but he said all military options are on the table for dealing with North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Analysts have speculated about whether the president and his top diplomat were playing "good cop, bad cop" with North Korea, and how China might interpret the confusing signals from Washington. Beijing is the North's main trading partner, and the U.S. is counting on China to enforce U.N. sanctions.
"Rest assured that the Chinese are not confused in any way what the American policy towards North Korea (is) or what our actions and efforts are directed at," Tillerson said.

Clinton Foundation to keep Harvey Weinstein's $250,000 donation

The Clinton Foundation will not return as much as $250,000 in donations from disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein following the accusations of sexual harassment and rape.

The foundation said Sunday that donations, ranging from $100,000 to $250,000, have already been spent on projects, The Daily Mail reported.

The move to keep the money was expected following tweets from the foundation’s spokesman Craig Minassian.
“Suggesting @ClintonFdn return funds from our 330,000+ donors ignores the fact that donations have been used to help people across the world,” Minassian wrote on Twitter.
The calls to return Weinstein’s money were prompted after multiple actresses have come forward and accused the Hollywood executive of sexual assault and rape, forcing numerous politicians and organization to grapple with the dilemma.
Dozens Democratic Party politicians – including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Sen. Al Franken, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Cory Booker – have pledged to donate their Weinstein’s contributions to charities focused on women’s rights.
Hillary Clinton echoed her former colleagues, saying she was “shocked and appalled” after the sexual harassment allegations were revealed about Weinstein, who hosted fundraisers for her in the past and donated more than $46,000 to her recent presidential campaign and other election efforts.
"What other people are saying, what my former colleagues are saying, is they're going to donate it to charity, and of course I will do that," she said on CNN. "I give 10% of my income to charity every year, this will be part of that. There's no – there's no doubt about it."

Hustler Larry Flynt Cartoons