Blagojevich Says Heâs An âF-ing Jerkâ Under Oath

Testifying at his corruption retrial, past Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich offered perhaps the most faithful statement of himself meet transactions after taking the stand for the prototypal time: “I am an f-ing movement and I apologize.”

The disgraced leader rambled most his youth, Little League baseball, the struggles of his Slav immigrant family and his childhood job as a footgear shiner. He also mentioned that story inspires him and obstructed up most the death of his parents, who incidentally he claims hit helped him from heaven.

It was an manifest effort to get jurors over, though hour showed some signs of compassion and digit reporter exclusive the room observed a panellist “extremely annoyed” by every the individualized history. Blagojevich has been charged with 20 felonies, including trying to sell President Obama’s older senate seat. Jurors deadlocked on every but digit calculate (lying to the FBI) at his prototypal effort last summer, but Blagojevich never testified so his attendance has been anxiously anticipated.

There was uncertainty the impeached two-term controller would actually take the stand up until the time he was bound in. "I would favour to be somewhere else," Blagojevich told jurors, adding that he was in suite to tell the actuality after a 2 ½-year wait. Now he feels “very liberated.”

Proceedings module juice up next week (no effort on Fridays) when the defense softball questions conclude and prosecutors take in. As it did last summer, Judicial Watch module cover the effort springy in Chicago.

JW has daylong investigated widespread corruption in the Blagojevich Administration. In 2006 Blagojevich refused a JW public records request for subpoenas relating to the federal probe of his duty and in 2007 JW filed an open records causa in Cook County Court to obtain them. In 2009 JW obtained open records that prove Obama and Blagojevich had repeated contact after Obama became president even though the White House has vehemently denied it.

 

DHS Quietly Kills âRedundantâ Counterterrorism Program

The Department of Homeland Security has quietly eliminated a post-9/11 counterterrorism information that required men from Islamic countries with astir terrorist organizations to run with federal polity upon entering the United States.

Known as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) the information was created to intercept Islamic terrorists like the ones who hijacked airplanes and murdered thousands of Americans in 2001. Most were men who entered the U.S. with jural visas and would hit been required to run with migration polity low NSEERS.

Active terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda control in every of the countries listed on the now-defunct Homeland Security NSEERS list. They allow Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Arabian Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

In a largely forgotten federal run note announcing the end of NSEERS, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asserts that its “redundant” and “no individual provides any process in security” because her authority has implemented “several newborn automated systems” that getting the same arrival and exit accumulation of nonimmigrant travelers to the U.S.

Madam Secretary boost explains in the declaration that there’s been an phylogenesis in coercion that apparently makes NSEERS unnecessary. “As threats to the United States evolve, DHS seeks to identify limited individuals and actions that bear limited threats, kinda than centering on more generalized designations of groups of individuals, such as land of origin.”

This certainly sounds like it could be still another move by the Obama Administration to placate Muslims. After all, throughout the counterterrorism program’s six eld an grey of politically-connected Islamic rights groups decried it as unfairly promoting interracial profiling.

In the terminal assemblage the brass has heeded to some of their calls by launching an aggressive Islamic outreach effort that includes domestic section meetings with extremist groups, arrangement the nation’s space authority (NASA) to focus on Islamic diplomacy and a primary visit allowing the reentry of digit radical Islamic academics whose terrorist ties daylong illegal them from the U.S.

The Justice Department also created a primary Arab-American and Islamic Engagement Advisory Group to boost greater communication, cooperation and newborn level of attitude between accumulation enforcement and Islamic and Arab-American communities. The fruits of its labor were evident during a weekend assail on a Florida masjid with terrorist ties. Federal agents conducted it low new rules of engagement to assure social sensitivity towards Islam.

 

Blagoâs Hair Steals The Show

 

Chicago--As Rod Blagojevich’s top aide delivered a third period of evidence in his past boss’s immorality retrial, the bounteous speech around the Chicago federal courthouse was about the impeached Algonquin governor’s stylemark fluffy hair.

That’s how tedious and uneventful the period went as Blagojevich’s onetime honcho of staff, Evangelist Harris, recounted how the ousted controller designed to make money by exchanging Barack Obama’s older U.S. senate centre for a lucrative job, a cabinet position in the new brass or crusade contributions.

Besides a few diverting FBI wiretaps featuring Blagojevich’s profanity-laced tirades (he regularly uses the F word), the effort pretty such dragged on such same the first one, which took octad weeks and ended in jury situation on all but digit calculate (lying to the FBI). On weekday jurors were undoubtedly thankful that court ended unexpectedly primeval because Blagojevich’s professional got displeased and couldn’t convey after the meal break. The government finished questioning Harris and interbreed communicating by the accumulation will begin when the effort resumes on Monday.

With the state so humdrum exclusive the courtroom, the bounteous discussions around the courthouse corridors centered on Blagojevich’s hair. It utilised to be “black footgear polish” and now it’s a “softer brown,” said digit insider who got a pass to see the effort live. There isn’t nearly as such welfare as the first effort and the overflow room isn’t modify open, but effort a blot to check the state springy is still tricky.

As the first hebdomad of evidence concluded, the most diverting aspects featured Blagojevich “working the crowd,” as digit topical communicator said to another. During breaks Blagojevich struts out smiling, waving and shut to anyone who makes receptor contact with him. On weekday farewell the past controller approached a assemble of schoolchildren on a earth trip to the courthouse. With a bounteous smirk, he told their pedagogue “I’m not controller anymore” and joked with an 11-year-old boy who shook his hand. “You countenance same a U.S. Senator,” Blagojevich told the boy. “If I knew you two eld ago I would have thoughtful you for the senate.”

 

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton to Testify to House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee

On Tuesday, May 3, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton module wage evidence to the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. The hearing, entitled “White House Transparency, Visitor Logs and Lobbyists,” module examine issues concerning the promulgation of White House traveller records.

The Chairman of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Ranking Minority Member is Diana DeGette (D-CO).

To view the transactions weekday live online, click here:

• When: Tuesday, May 310:30 AM ET
• Where: Rayburn House Office BuildingRoom 2123

As scenery to tomorrow’s testimony, it was Judicial Watch that successfully forced the promulgation of White House traveller logs attendant to visits by former lobbyist and guilty malefactor Jack Abramoff to the Dubya White House in 2006. Judicial Watch continuing its battleful pursuit of these logs with the Obama administration. Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) letter with the Obama Secret Service, which lawlessly claimed these records were not agency records person to opportune open disclosure. Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit, which is ongoing.

Tens of thousands of traveller logs move to be withheld, and a report by the Center for Public Integrity suggests that the records that hit been free are “riddled with holes.” Other reports discourse that White House officials hit met with lobbyists “off campus” to avoid disclosing lobbyists contacts finished White House traveller logs.