Mandy Nagy (aka "Liberty Chick") was an investigative writer and researcher. She primarily covered the institutional left, protest movements, hacking and cybercrime, and technology. After suffering a serious stroke in September 2014, Mandy no longer was able to work at Legal Insurrection, but she's always on our minds and in our hearts. For more information, see here.
Here's a small selection of links for those of you who may be catching up on posts this weekend.
After the passing of the head of Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps, earlier this week, counter-protesters showed up at one of the group's protests with a message...
President Barack Obama on Thursday announced a new round of expanded sanctions in response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
The additional sanctions target 20 Russian officials and influential individuals, as well as a Russian bank, according to Obama's statement and a list published by the Treasury Department. These follow an initial round of sanctions announced earlier in the week that targeted 11 Russian and Ukrainian individuals.
Speaking from the South Lawn of the White House Thursday, the president again denounced Russia’s recent actions in Ukraine, including its move to annex Crimea, and he outlined additional sanctions the United States would be imposing in response.
“Over the last several days, we’ve continued to be deeply concerned by events in Ukraine,” Obama said. “We’ve seen an illegal referendum in Crimea, an illegitimate move by the Russians to annex Crimea, and dangerous risks of escalation, including threats to Ukrainian personnel in Crimea and threats to southern and eastern Ukraine as well. These are all choices that the Russian government has made, choices that have been rejected by the international community, as well as the government of Ukraine.”
“And because of these choices, the United States is today moving – as we said we would – to impose additional costs on Russia. Based on the executive order that I signed in response to Russia’s initial intervention in Ukraine, we’re imposing sanctions on more senior officials of the Russian government. In addition, we are today sanctioning a number of other individuals with substantial resources and influence who provide material support to the Russian leadership, as well as a bank that provides material support to these individuals.”
The president’s announcement came shortly after Russia's lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a treaty to annex Crimea from Ukraine.
From Reuters:
With ongoing developments on the crisis in Ukraine, here are some news updates from Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a draft treaty making Crimea part of Russia.
From CNN, Ukraine cries 'robbery' as Russia annexes Crimea:
Never mind what the West thinks -- the Kremlin says Ukraine's Crimea region is now part of Russia.
A signing ceremony Tuesday between Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Crimea and the mayor of the city of Sevastopol made it official, the Kremlin said in a statement. The territory, ceded to Ukraine in the Soviet era, is now part of the Russian Federation, it said.
The annexation -- which had not been expected to occur until Russian lawmakers met later this week -- was met with a howl of protest in Kiev, where Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called it "a robbery on an international scale."
Additional details also at CBS News.
Also Tuesday, a Ukrainian soldier was reported to have been killed on a base in Crimea and another wounded, though some of the details appeared to be unclear at the time of this writing.
From AFP:
A California man who hacked into the computers of Miss Teen USA and other women and then extorted some of them into sending nude photos of themselves or undressing for him on video chat has been sentenced to federal prison.
Jared James Abrahams, now twenty years old, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in federal prison, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California.
Among Abrahams’ victims was Miss Teen USA, Cassidy Wolf, who had alerted authorities last year after she received an anonymous email that included attachments of nude photos of her in her own bedroom, and the sender demanded she “perform” for him or he would post the photos online. Abrahams had hacked into Wolf's computer and remotely accessed her webcam to obtain the photos without her knowledge.
Abrahams was arrested last year and other victims of his "sextortion" attempts were discovered.
From the US Attorney’s office:
Abrahams targeted young women he knew, and he identified other victims after hacking into Facebook pages. Using hacking software, Abrahams took control of victims’ email accounts, social media accounts and even their computers – which allowed him to remotely turn on web cameras and occasionally take pictures of naked victims.
Abrahams used the nude photos to extort victims by threatening to publicly post the compromising photos or videos to the victims’ social media accounts – unless the victim either sent more nude photos or videos, or engaged in a Skype session with him and did what he said for five minutes.
Several teens and women in their early 20s were victimized when Abrahams posted nude photos to their social media accounts. At least two victims consented to the Skype sessions proposed by Abrahams to keep their photos off the Internet.
Cassidy Wolf said last year that the incident had terrified her – I wrote at the time about her harrowing ordeal, and she described the experience in several media interviews.
Abrahams pleaded guilty in November to one count of computer hacking and three counts of extortion, after signing a plea agreement in October.
Following Sunday's referendum vote in Crimea to break from Ukraine and join Russia, President Obama on Monday announced a series of new sanctions. (Video at end of this post).
From Reuters:
U.S. President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on 11 Russians and Ukrainians on Monday blamed for Moscow's military seizure of Crimea, including ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, and Vladislav Surkov and Sergei Glazyev, two aides to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin himself, suspected in the West of trying to reconstitute as much as possible of the former Soviet Union under Russian authority, was not on the blacklist.
In Brussels, the EU's 28 foreign ministers agreed on a list of 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials to be subject to travel bans and asset freezes for their roles in the events.
The EU did not immediately publish their names. Washington and Brussels said more measures could follow in the coming days if Russia does not back down and formally annexes Crimea.
"Today's actions send a strong message to the Russian government that there are consequences for their actions that violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including their actions supporting the illegal referendum for Crimean separation," the White House said.
A senior Obama administration official said there was "concrete evidence" that some ballots in the Crimea referendum arrived in some Crimean cities pre-marked.
Speaking from the White House this morning, President Obama said, “as I told President Putin yesterday, the referendum in Crimea was a clear violation of Ukrainian Constitutions and international law, and it will not be recognized by the international community.”
Obama then went on to outline “a series of measures that will continue to increase the cost on Russia and on those responsible for what is happening in Ukraine.”
Among those measures are sanctions on a number of specific individuals and entities, as well as continued consultations with European partners on additional measures.
From Obama’s statement Monday (transcript from the Washington Post):
In what will likely come as little surprise to anyone who has been following the events in Ukraine, Russian state media are reporting that early exit polls show Crimea has voted to break with Ukraine and join Russia. Official results are expected later.
From Reuters:
Russian state media said Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia on Sunday, as Kiev accused Moscow of pouring forces into the peninsula and warned separatist leaders "the ground will burn under their feet".
RIA news agency said 93 percent backed annexation, citing an exit poll released as voting ended at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). Another Russian agency said turnout was over 80 percent.
Caught in an East-West crisis reminiscent of the Cold War, Kiev said Russia's build-up of forces in the Black Sea region was in "crude violation" of an international treaty, and announced plans to arm and train 20,000 members of a newly-created National Guard to defend the nation.
The White House had already denounced the vote ahead of the official results, calling the referendum illegal and citing Russian intimidation.
David Gregory spoke with Dan Pfeiffer on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, where he pressed the White House Senior Adviser on Obama's recent low approval rating among Democrats.
Pfeiffer didn't address much about the polls very directly, but said that the shutdown and problems with healthcare.gov had some impact for everyone in Washington, including the president.
"Here’s what the president is going to do," Pfeiffer said. "He is going to lay out the terms of the debate in this election as a choice between Democrats who support an agenda of opportunity for all, for Republicans for an agenda of opportunity for a few. And let’s not forget, this president wrote the book on running and winning modern campaigns. So we’re going to take all of our resources and help Democrats up and down the ballot."
And then Gregory asked Pfeiffer, "Right, but do they want your help? Is the president more of a liability than he is an asset at this stage for Democrats?"
Pfeiffer responded, "We are going to set the terms of the debate, we’re going to provide our organizational ability to help them if the president’s going to raise money, we want to help them in every way we can."
Gregory continued to press and asked again, "Liability or asset?"
"The president will be an asset in every way possible and help these candidates," Pfeiffer said.
Full video below (the Obama approval rating exchange starts at 1:58).
Here's a writeup of the full exchange:
Tensions are mounting ahead of a planned referendum Sunday to determine whether or not Crimea will break from Ukraine and join Russia.
A few updates on the situation...
From AFP via Yahoo News:
Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of invading a region bordering Crimea and vowed to use "all necessary measures" to ward off an attack that came on the eve of the peninsula's breakaway vote.
The dramatic escalation of the most serious East-West crisis since the Cold War set a tense stage for the referendum on Crimea's secession from Ukraine in favour of Kremlin rule -- a vote denounced by both the international community and Kiev.
The predominantly Russian-speaking Black Sea region of two million people was overrun by Kremlin-backed troops days after the February 22 fall in Kiev of a Moscow-backed regime and the rise of nationalist leaders who favour closer ties with the West.
President Vladimir Putin defended Moscow's decision to flex its military muscle by arguing that ethnic Russians in Ukraine needed "protection" from violent ultranationalists who had been given free reign by the new Kiev administration.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had told Secretary of State John Kerry in London on Friday that Moscow "has no, and cannot have, any plans to invade the southeast region of Ukraine."
We've brought you a selection of links for your Friday evening reading (and viewing).
Twitchy highlights the cartoon from editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez on the departure of Sharyl Attkisson from CBS News
National Review Online has more on the Lois Lerner situation as Issa, Cummings Line Up...
A handful of hecklers disrupted Chris Christie's town hall meeting in Mount Laurel, NJ on Thursday, prompting the NJ Governor to fire back at their interruptions.
From CNN:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's town hall Thursday was repeatedly interrupted by what appeared to be a coordinated effort by hecklers, four of whom took turns shouting at the governor when other audience members tried to ask questions.
The first protester stood up about 35 minutes into the event and hollered at the governor from across the room about Superstorm Sandy relief aid.
After about half a minute, a fed-up Christie turned to the young man and tried to shut him down.
"Either sit down or keep quiet, or get out," the Republican governor said. "Either one. We're done with you."
CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has reached an agreement to resign from CBS News ahead of contract, bringing an end to months of hard-fought negotiations, sources familiar with her departure told POLITICO on Monday.
Attkisson, who has been with CBS News for two decades, had grown frustrated with what she saw as the network's liberal bias, an outsized influence by the network's corporate partners and a lack of dedication to investigative reporting, several sources said. She increasingly felt like her work was no longer supported and that it was a struggle to get her reporting on air.
At the same time, Attkisson's own reporting on the Obama administration, which some staffers characterized as agenda-driven, had led network executives to doubt the impartiality of her reporting. She is currently at work on a book -- tentatively titled "Stonewalled: One Reporter's Fight for Truth in Obama's Washington" -- which addresses the challenges of reporting critically on the Obama administration.
Feeling increasingly stymied and marginalized at the network, Attkisson began talking to CBS News President David Rhodes as early as last April about getting out of her contract. Those negotiations intensified in recent weeks, and her request was finally honored on Monday.
Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson took the stage at CPAC Saturday, where he focused on a number of issues.
Carson opened by speaking about his dreams as a child to become a physician and the amazing opportunity his career path provided for him, saying "...
Among the speakers so far on day three of CPAC was Daniel Hannan, British conservative and member of the European Parliament.
Of the many points made by Hannan, who offered some interesting perspective from the outside, one touched upon "restoring order and sanity to the federal...
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) announced Friday that, after months of discussions, the IRS has agreed to turn over Lois Lerner emails and documents to the committee.
More from The Hill:
The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to turn over emails and other documents from Lois Lerner, a core player in the agency’s targeting controversy, the House Ways and Means Committee said Friday.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) threatened last month to subpoena those documents after criticizing the IRS for failing to comply with his request.
“This is a significant step forward and will help us complete our investigation into the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups,” Camp said in a statement.
This news follows a House Oversight committee hearing earlier this week during which Lerner again invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and did not answer any questions.
In February, Camp sent a letter to the new IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, in which he reiterated a request for documents, including all Lois Lerner emails starting from January 1, 2009. Some documents had previously been provided to the committee, but they were limited in scope, according to the letter.
It has been almost eight months since I wrote Acting Commissioner Werfel to request, among other things, all Lois Lerner e-mails starting from January 1, 2009. To date, the committee has received only those Lerner documents from this period that include one or more search terms and limited to the determinations process. Given emerging evidence of Lerner's central role in targeting not just through the determinations process, but also in the examinations, appeals and rulemaking processes, all Lerner documents during this time period are pertinent to the investigation.
Rand Paul addressed the crowd at CPAC today in a speech that was largely focused on the constitution and civil liberties.
The Kentucky Senator drew applause as he criticized the federal government's policies on domestic surveillance.
"Yet, as our voices rise in protest, the NSA monitors your...
Texas Governor Rick Perry kicked off the second day of CPAC with a speech that prompted loud applause and cheers.
"I'm reminded this morning of words that speak to the American soul," Perry said in the early part of his speech. "Words spoken by Thomas Jefferson,...
National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre is expected to take the stage to speak at CPAC 2014 at 2:30pm ET today, coverage begins at 2:15pm ET.
Legal Insurrection reader Dmacleo sent us a note that it will be livestreaming at The Conservative...
