Mediaboss Marketing

The convergence of law and politics is a common occurrence in Washington. While law is used to ascertain truth, politics is often used to obscure it.

That is why the truth is rarely evident in looking at a scandal straight on.Rather it requires peripheral vision or analysis often what is not evident is what ismost enlightening.

This most famous example of such reasoning was found in Sir Arthur Conan Doyles story Silver Blaze, on Sherlock Holmess investigation of the disappearance of a racehorse.

The local inspector asked if there was any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?

ADRIANA COHEN: FACEBOOK, TWITTER'S THUGGISH CENSORSHIP AND ELECTION INTERFERENCE MEAN NO CITIZEN IS SAFE

Holmes responds, To the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime.

When the inspector objects, The dog did nothing in the night-time, Holmes replies, That was the curious incident.

There is always something a tad curious of Washington legal scandals in what has not occurred. That is why the latest Hunter Biden scandal is so curious.

When the story broke in the New York Post, the Biden campaign was faced with thousands of emails that purportedly showed clear support for allegations that Hunter Biden was given millions as part of an influence-peddling scheme related to his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden.

There was ample reason to be skeptical about the sketchy account of a computer being left by Hunter Biden at a computer store with a man who cannot see beyond a couple of feet. And then there is the timing of disclosure just weeks before an election.

The problem was the absence of "barks" from the Biden camp.The computer files revealed a host of embarrassing pictures of Hunter Biden using drugs or exposed in other embarrassing ways. The emails contain dates and addresses that match up with confirmed records.

If they are fabricated, there were three barks that we would have expected within hours of the release.

Bark 1: This was not Hunter Bidens computer

The most obvious response would be that this is not the computer of Hunter Biden. After all, the computer store owner John Paul Mac Isaac who is legally blind said that he could not recognize the person who dropped off the laptop.

However, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has now stated, as a fact, that the laptop was left by Hunter Biden, in an inebriated, heavily inebriated state with the merchant. That does not purport with what Isaac said.

However, there remains the question of a laptop with a Beau Biden Foundation sticker on it with highly incriminating files.

Someone in the campaign must have called Hunter Biden and he had to have told them whether or not it was his laptop.

The response on ownership has been crickets for days.

Bark 2:These were not Hunter Bidens photosor emails

Even if the campaign cannot deny that the computer was Hunter Bidens, it could deny that these incriminating pictures and emails were his.

Again, crickets.

Note that if these are fabricated emails or pictures, this would be a seriousfederal crime and the basis for legal action.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS OPINION NEWSLETTER

The Biden camp has no shortage of lawyers. Indeed, they have been signing up lawyers in droves in preparation for election challenges.

Yet, there is not a single allegation of fraud or fabrication after days of a brewing scandal.

Bark 3: This is defamation

Perhaps this bark is the most telling.If these emails or pictures are fabricated, it is a clear case of defamation and other tort actions.

It would seem that one of the hundreds of lawyers currently lined up by the Biden campaign would fire off an "intent to sue" letter.

Truth is a defense to defamation, so the letter might start with the earlier bark and deny that this was Hunter Bidens computer and these were Hunter Bidens file.

One big difference between the legal and political worlds is that in the latter there is no protection for the right to remain silent. In politics, scandals can be managed but not silently.

Instead of these obvious barks, the public heard something closer to a whimper: that the campaign could not find any notation on Vice President Biden's official schedule that he met with a Ukrainian figure connected to the payments to his son Hunter Biden.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

It would be a curious sight in itself for Bidens official schedule to include meeting with Ukrainian connected to Hunter. Many meetings are not part of an official schedule that staffers know is subject to official records laws for preservation and review.

That is what is so curious about the Hunter Biden story and, to move from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Lewis Carroll, it is becoming curiouser and curiouser.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JONATHAN TURLEY

Go here to see the original:
Jonathan Turley: Hunter Biden's laptop and the Facebook, Twitter censorship scandal watch these 3 things - Fox News

ISLAMABAD - The United States has lost $19 billion in Afghanistan since 2002 due to waste, fraud and abuse, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a new report released Tuesday.

SIGAR monitors all U.S. spending in the 19-year war in Afghanistan, Americas longest.

The American oversight authority noted that the U.S. Congress has appropriated nearly $134 billion for Afghan reconstruction programs since the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001.

Of that amount, SIGAR reviewed approximately $63 billion and concluded that a total of approximately $19 billion, or 30% of the amount reviewed, was lost to waste, fraud, and abuse, the report said.

SIGARs audit identified approximately $1.8 billion in waste, fraud and abuse between January 2018 and December 2019.

The oversight office is tasked with reviewing reconstruction funding and presenting recommendations for putting the money to better use for other programs or efforts in the tumultuous South Asian nation.

SIGARs latest report comes as President Donald Trumps administration presses the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents to negotiate a political settlement to permanently end the long conflict. The Afghan rivals are currently engaged in direct peace talks in Doha, Qatar.

The historic dialogue is the product of a peace-building agreement the Trump administration sealed with the Taliban in February to close the war and bring home all U.S. forces by May 2021.

The U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and toppled the Taliban government at the time for harboring the al-Qaida terror network and its chief, Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the attacks.

The war has since cost Washington the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. soldiers and nearly $1 trillion.

SIGAR has routinely criticized the Afghan governments efforts to curb rampant corruption as inadequate, saying it is a major concern among the frustrated donor community.

In a report released in early 2020, the U.S. agency said Afghan President Ashraf Ghanis administration is more interested in checking off boxes for the international community than in actually uprooting its corruption problem.

The anti-corruption efforts and reform programs will come under scrutiny next month when Afghan officials and international donors meet in Geneva to consider future aid commitments to Afghanistan.

See more here:
US Reportedly Lost $19 Billion To Fraud, Abuse in Afghanistan - Voice of America

WASHINGTON President Trumps national security adviser, Robert C. OBrien, added to the confusion around Mr. Trumps plans for Afghanistan on Friday, reiterating an assertion that the United States will draw down to about 2,500 troops by early next year and indirectly rebuking the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman for openly questioning that timeline.

Speaking from the White House during an online session hosted by the Aspen Strategy Group, Mr. OBrien repeated a statement he made during a public talk last Wednesday, saying that Mr. Trump had directed that the United States, which now has about 4,500 troops in the country, would be down to 2500 troops in the early part of next year.

It has been suggested by some that thats speculation. I can guarantee you, thats the plan of the president the United States, Mr. OBrien said. That was a clear reference to comments by the chairman, Gen. Mark A. Milley, in an interview on Sunday with NPR, that Mr. OBriens previous troop-level projection amounted to speculation and not the rigorous analysis of conditions on the ground that the general would apply.

On Friday, Mr. OBrien insisted that he was reflecting Mr. Trumps true intentions.

Its not speculation, he repeated. Thats the order of the commander in chief, he said, adding that the Defense Department and its secretary, Mark T. Esper, are fully on board and implementing them.

The United States struck an agreement with the Taliban in February that committed to a full troop withdrawal by next May, but tied to conditions that the Afghan insurgent group has yet to meet.

Mr. OBrien also sought to explain away a tweet by Mr. Trump, posted hours after his remarks last week, in which the president appeared to offer a wholly different, and much faster, timeline for an American exit. We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas! Mr. Trump wrote.

I think what the president was doing is, he was expressing the same desire I think every president since the Revolutionary War has said, whenever were at war, whether it was the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I, or World War II all presidents, all G.I.s want the troops home by Christmas, he said.

Thered be nothing greater than having our troops home by Christmas, he continued, adding that the United States was on a path right now that looks like about 4,500.

Mr. OBrien also sought to downplay concern that Mr. Trump would seek to exit the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in a second term, a day after Mr. Trump, speaking on a podcast hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, would not commit to remaining in the alliance if re-elected.

Asked about claims by Mr. Trumps previous national security adviser, John R. Bolton, that the president has threatened to exit the alliance entirely, Mr. OBrien said, Ive never heard him talk about getting out of NATO.

See the rest here:
Trump Aide Insists U.S. Will Reduce Forces in Afghanistan to 2,500 Troops - The New York Times

A Memorandum of Understanding between Greece and Afghanistan was signed yesterday by Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis and Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Meerwais Nab.

The signing ceremony of the Memorandum in Greeces capital was followed by a bilateral meeting, during which the close historical and cultural ties connecting the two countries were confirmed, given the rich Greek cultural heritage in Afghanistan dating back to the time of Alexander the Great over 2,000 years ago.

Varvitsiotis stressed the importance of promoting a positive agenda of cooperation between the two countries, which, however, presupposes addressing issues of mutual distrust, such as illegal immigration.

He raised, in particular, the issue of facilitating voluntary returns for Afghan citizens, who are not entitled to international protection, and welcomed Nabs positive reception of the Greek proposal to conclude a relevant bilateral Memorandum of Cooperation.

He stressed that the issue of returns is a key part of the new Immigration and Asylum Pact presented by the European Commission.

For his part, Nab expressed the desire to cooperate with Greece on the issue of voluntary returns through the Afghan Embassy in Athens, as well as the hope for a Greek Embassy in Kabul, noting that the Afghanistan side can assist about.

After the end of the meeting, Varvitsiotis made the following statement:

Today I had the opportunity to meet and sign a political agreement with the Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister. Mr Nab and I had the opportunity to discuss issues of concern to both countries, and in particular the complex issue of immigration, he said, adding that Greece has always been committed to supporting internal security and, of course, peace in the region of Afghanistan.

That is why it has been participating in the international effort to address the Taliban threat for many years. In this context, Greece has welcomed and is hosting over 40,000 Afghans in our country, the Deputy Foreign Minister continued.

Many of them have refugee status, some of them do not have refugee status and are considered illegal immigrants. That is why we have already started discussions on the immigration agreement with Afghanistan, to send a message to the people, who risk their lives crossing the border illegally to reach our country, that, even if they get here, eventually their path will not be successful, he concluded.

Varvitsiotis also said on Twitter that Greece and Afghanistan are deepening political relations.

?? ??? ?????? ????????? ?????????? Meerwais Nab ?????????? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ????????? ?????????????. ??????? ??? ????? ????????? ???? ??? ??? ???????? ??? ???????? ??????????? ??? ??? ?????? ????????????? ??? ??? ????????? ??? ????????? ??? ???????. ????? pic.twitter.com/4hVvjQlRa3

— Varvitsiotis Miltiadis (@MVarvitsiotis) October 21, 2020

Here is the original post:
Greece And Afghanistan Sign Memorandum On Returning Illegal Immigrants - GreekCityTimes.com

After nearly two decades of war, the U.S. government continues to essentially flush billions in taxpayer dollars down the toilet.

The U.S. lost approximately $19 billion to waste, fraud, and abuse in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2018, according to the top government watchdog for the reconstruction effort there.

According to the new audit from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) published last week, the U.S. government lost nearly $3 billion in 323 separate instances over the last two years alone.

Waste, defined as the act of using or expending resources carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose," accounted for 90 percent of those 323 instances during that time period, according to the SIGAR report.

Fraud namely bribery, theft, and other forms of corruption accounted for about approximately 9 percent of the remaining incidents, while abuse of power by officials accounted forapproximately 1 percent.

The U.S. has appropriated more than $134 billion for Afghanistan reconstruction since 2002, approximately 47 percent of which SIGAR has reviewed through audits over the years, according to the report.

Unfortunately, it's unclear what specific impact this scale of waste, fraud, and abuse. Indeed, the Pentagon for more than a year has either over-classified or outright ceased to gather critical data on whether the United States is actually succeeding or failing to win the war in Afghanistan.

But according toSIGAR, this bodes poorly for the ongoing Afghan peace process:the report concluded that the waste, fraud, and abuse detailed in its audit doesn't just represent a waste of taxpayer dollars, but a potential threat to the long-term prospect of stability in the country.

"Endemic corruption, widespread insecurity, and lack of accountability over on-budget assistance continue to make any investments made in Afghanistan vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse and may threaten the peace process as well as the perceived legitimacy and effectiveness of the Afghan government," according to the report.

In a statement to Task & Purpose, the Defense Department blasted the SIGAR report as replete with "factual errors and misrepresentations."

"The report cites instances of 'waste, fraud and abuse' that pertain mainly to projects completed years ago - some more than a decade ago - that SIGAR investigated previously," DoD spokesman Maj.Rob Lodewick said in a statement. "DoD and several other U.S. government departments and agencies are already on record as having challenged these previous reports as inaccurate and misleading. We continue to voice our well-informed disagreement."

"Furthermore, DoD disagrees with some of the reports conclusions, which are subjective, based on previous contentious SIGAR work, and appear to make little distinction between reconstruction efforts that were mismanaged and those efforts that have, to date, simply fallen short of strategic goals," he continued. "Although some projects have yet to accomplish their intended outcomes, the net effect of the overall effort in Afghanistan has clearly improved Afghan society over the last 18 years, despite an ongoing violent insurgency."

Related: How the Afghanistan withdrawal went from home by Christmas to standby to standby

Read more from the original source:
The US lost $19 billion in Afghanistan to waste, fraud, and abuse over a decade - Task & Purpose