Tag: illegal

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Nonpartisan Federal Watchdog Agency Concludes Trump Illegally Withheld Ukraine Aid

From NPR:

A federal watchdog concluded that President Trump broke the law when he froze assistance funds for Ukraine last year, according to a report unveiled on Thursday.

The Office of Management and Budget blocked the Defense Department from spending money designated by Congress on July 25, “pending a policy decision,” according to OMB General Counsel Mark Paoletta. That hold was lifted on Sept. 12.

But a 1974 law that governs budget procedure within the government “does not permit OMB to withhold funds for policy reasons,” said Thomas Armstrong, general counsel for the watchdog Government Accountability Office.

The law further designates the ways in which Congress has the power of the purse. Under the Impoundment Control Act, it is illegal for OMB to withhold money that has been appropriated by Congress and signed into law.

If the White House wants to delay or deny funds, it must first alert Congress.

Documents and testimony released during and after House impeachment hearings revealed some administration officials had raised concerns that the Ukraine hold might have violated the law known as the Impoundment Control Act.

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Man Charged With Illegally Recording Naked Men At Spa

Police in Fairfax, Virginia, have announced the arrest of a man accused of secretly video recording naked men - including minors - at a local spa and selling the clips to a website.
(stock photo via Depositphotos)

Look around the next time you relax at a spa, or you could end up starring in an online video for sale.

Police in Fairfax, Virginia, have announced the arrest of a man accused of secretly video recording naked men – including minors – at a local spa and selling the clips to a website.

The videos were recorded at Spa World in Centerville, Virginia.

Kwame Anderson, a 28-year-old resident of Newport News, Virginia, has been charged with three felony counts of unlawful filming of a minor, one misdemeanor count of unlawful filming of an adult, and one misdemeanor count of unlawful dissemination of the videos.

Anderson reportedly had recorded 152 videos of 81 men including three juvenile males.

According to the Washington Blade, the investigation was launched after a male customer of the spa saw a video clip of him naked posted online for sale.

The man informed Spa World who, in turn, notified the Fairfax Police.

At a press conference regarding the case, Detective Sameer Khan declined to identify the website where the clips were being sold, or if it was a gay or straight oriented site, but did offer, “It was a very prominent social media website that these were actually posted on.”

In a statement, the Fairfax Police said they had recovered videos of 84 additional victims which were not recorded at the spa.

“We are working with other area jurisdictions in hopes of identifying the additional locations and victims,” read the statement.

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HAMILTON’s Lin-Manuel Miranda Does Not Suffer Fools (Or Thieves) Lightly

Lin-Manuel Miranda, author/star of Hamilton

Pulitzer Prize-winner (and about to win a ton of hardware at this year’s Tony Awards) Lin-Manuel Miranda took to Twitter recently to let the world know HE CAN SEE you folks in the audience who pull out your phones to record his Broadway blockbuster Hamilton.

Check this from yesterday:

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National Organization for Marriage continues to withold tax documents

The virulently anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is yet again illegally withholding key financial tax documents from the public, HRC reports:

Federal law requires organizations to publicly release their 990s the same day an in-person request is made. As a result, HRC has filed a complaint with the IRS in order to compel NOM to abide by the law.

“NOM’s inability to meet one of the most basic accounting standards for any organization makes you wonder what exactly is going on – are they simply demonstrating the same flagrant disregard they have for numerous state campaign finance laws, or is there something in these documents that reflects even more poorly on the organization and their failed work?” said Fred Sainz, HRC Vice President of Communications. “Brian Brown apparently had enough time on Friday to pull together a fundraising email feigning outrage at the marriage equality victory in Hawaii, but didn’t have time to ensure his organization was running in accordance with the law. NOM should do the right thing and immediately release these financial documents that the public has a right to see.”

[snip]

According to NOM’s 2011 990s, obtained by HRC last year, the anti-LGBT organization raised only $6.2 million, a precipitous drop from the $9.1 million it raised in 2010. The documents also revealed that nearly 75 percent of NOM’s fundraising came from just two deep-pocketed donors.

What are they hiding this year?

(via Towleroad)