The Dennis Hastert thread

[Wrong Element]

So to recap, every Speaker of the House involved in the Clinton impeachment was a philanderer and/or a pervert.

Vetteman is turning over in his grave. We hope.

 

[BoyNextDoor]

3.5 mil is a staggering amount. What could he have done? We know he has a history of "approaching" young men.

How much is $3.5 mil after taxes?

 

[phrodeau]

How much is $3.5 mil after taxes?

$3.4 mil.

 

[Busybody]

No Time for Hillary Scandals — Because Every Reporter Everywhere Is Covering the Dennis Hastert Indictment



Following a Chicago grand jury’s decision to indict former House speaker Dennis Hastert on charges that he violated federal banking laws by paying $3.5 million to an unnamed person to cover up “past misconduct,” rumors have abounded about what exactly that misconduct might be. The Washington Post reports now that Hastert “was trying to cover up decades-old allegations that he sexually molested a male victim to whom he recently paid hush money in violation of federal banking laws, according to a federal law enforcement official briefed on the case.” The misconduct, according to the unnamed source, dates from Hastert’s days as a teacher and wrestling coach in Illinois in the 1980s, but Hastert “is not expected to face any charges relating to the alleged misconduct because authorities don’t believe they have enough corroborating evidence to bring a case against him.” This is a big story, certainly. Hastert was a leader on the national stage less than a decade ago, and remains a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. Yet one cannot help but observe: Three authors are given a byline for this scoop, and six others are credited with “contributing” to the report. That’s nine Washington Post authors hard at work getting the (legally non-actionable) background to the indictment of a retired congressman. And it’s not just the Post. ABC News needed six authors to report the same story. The New York Times needed five. Politico needed four. Would that so much media manpower were devoted to covering current scandal-laden politicians — like, oh, for instance, Hillary Clinton.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/419090/cthulhu-vs-smod-final-chapter-kevin-d-williamson

 

[Busybody]

seems to me when Ben Gazi and IRS etc were investigated you all screamed it was a waste of $$$

isnt this more so?

HIPPO CREEPS

 

[Busybody]

So to recap, every Speaker of the House involved in the Clinton impeachment was a philanderer and/or a pervert.

Vetteman is turning over in his grave. We hope.

the impeachement want for FUCKING

as you well know

 

[Busybody]

The question is axed

WHY?


SMELLS LIKE POLITICS: Alan Dershowitz says Hastert indictment “smells.” The federal structuring statutes that Hastert is accused of violating are aimed at sniffing out drug money, tax evasion and other illegal activities. But paying “hush money,” as Hastert was allegedly doing, isn’t illegal.

 

[Busybody]

Witch meet hunt

Dennis Hastert and the law
Posted on May 30, 2015 by wcoats
Former congressman Dennis Hastert has been charged with failing to tell his bank why he was withdrawing his money (up to $3.5 million withdrawn in smaller amounts over a few years). It appears that he was being blackmailed by someone threatening to expose a sexual relationship long ago that Mr. Hastert does not want disclosed. Blackmail is a crime that I understand, but I have yet to read that the blackmailer has been charged with any crime. I assume that that is coming.

Mr. Hastert is being charged with violating our Anti Money Laundering (AML) laws.
These laws allow arresting and convicting people for moving money (as Mr. Hastert was doing) that the government thinks was the proceeds of crime (not the case with Mr. Hastert, his crime was failing to report what he planned to with his money), when they are not able to prove that there was a crime in the first place. As far as I know, paying a blackmailer (which is what Mr. Hastert apparently did) is not a crime, though demanding and receiving such money is. The United States has pushed such legislation and the new bureaucracies needed to enforce it all over the world at the cost of billions and billions of dollars (that could have been used for poverty reduction or other more pressing things) with very little if any benefit to show for it. Charging Dennis Hastert with AML violations is a rare exception. Wow, what a benefit for such intrusions into our private lives. I consider AML laws more than a costly waste of money. They are another expansion of the arbitrary power of governments that can be used for good or ill with limited oversight. They lower the standards required for convictions of the real crime, what ever it was, and to that extend diminish the rule of law as we have always understood it.

It is hard to grasp how far our government has evolved from the freedoms we were guaranteed in our constitution. Most of these incremental intrusions have been in the name of protecting us from ourselves and our neighbors. The unlawful (according to a recent court ruling) spying on its own citizens by the NSA exposed by Edward Snowden is now well known and tomorrow we will see what congress does about it. https://wcoats.wordpress.com/?s=snowden. In another example, The Washington Post and others have exposed the shocking abuse of civil forfeiture laws (modern highway robbery by the police). https://wcoats.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/the-abuse-of-civil-forfeiture/.

These are the tips of an alarming iceberg of regulations contained in tens of thousands of pages of laws and regulations from banking to buying cereal. Charles Murray, a very thoughtful and out of the box thinker and observer of our times, makes an intriguing proposal for fighting back. Like me, he is a student of the 60s when civil disobedience seemed the only weapon left to us against an abusive government: http://www.wsj.com/articles/regulation-run-amokand-how-to-fight-back-1431099256

Has our preference for security over freedom swung so far? What are some people smoking to think that government bureaucrats at homeland security, the IRS or the Veterans Administration can more efficiently meet our needs than we can arrange ourselves in the private sector? I have commented on these alarming developments many times before:
https://wcoats.wordpress.com/2014/06/22/big-brother-is-getting-bigger/ https://wcoats.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/protecting-our-civil-liberties/
https://wcoats.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/the-rule-of-law-2/

 

[Busybody]

The Clintons walk free

Christie is under a huge cloud and investogation for a BRIDGE and Corzine walks free

Hmmmm

 

[Busybody]

But Dennis Hastert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGSdkYlWoAAb6v5.jpg

 

[Aglaopheme]

On November 13, 2014, Dennis Hastert appeared on Washington Journal, and received a mysterious call from Bruce of Yorkville.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/this-unn...stert-makes-his-indictment-quite-interesting/

I heard that call. Who can he be? Individual (pick a letter, any letter). Multiple people have published there was an "Individual B among others.

 

[Aglaopheme]

Hmmmmmm I'm just going to say

A. You charge people with what you are able to. I believe you'll find that more victims will come out, but feel free piss and moan about an alleged pedophile bring indicted.

B. (And this is the fun one!) In the Republican scandals you mention people have actually been indicted. In the ones you've levied against the Democrats? Charges? Charges? Anyone? I think you've got the definition of witch hunt and scandal wrong there darling.

 

[Busybody]

or a REPOH!

Dan Abrams: Hastert 'Gotcha Prosecution' Wouldn't Be Happening If He Wasn't High-Profile http://******/1GdBO4Z

 

[Adre]

Looks like Repub pedophilia woke BB from his coma. Fortunately I can't see what he's ranting about.

 

[robertreams]

In the 70's and 80's I worked for a Community Action Agency in Northern Illinois. Part of my job was to work in the interest of poverty persons with the Illinois legislature and the Illinois Commerce Commission (which regulated utilities). I was part of the push to create a non-partisan Citizen's Utility Board. Later I ran in a local election to be on that board. My opponent was Dennis Hastert. One day before polling began, he used his money and influence from the more affluent part of the county to put ads in all the newspapers and do a massive mailing that I was using government funds to run against him. There was no way on our limited resources that we could reply with the truth in that short a time. So you might say that I was responsible for getting Dennis up on his feet and running.

 

[AZMotherLover]

How much is $3.5 mil after taxes?

I think he only got $1.7 mil so far, and I'd be surprised if he properly reported it.

Looks like this indictment just cost "Individual A" about $1.8 mil.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

Alleged Dennis Hastert Sex Abuse Victim Is Named By Family

It is the first time an alleged Hastert victim has been identified by name since his indictment for lying to the FBI and violating federal banking laws to cover-up past misconduct. Hastert, due in court next week, has not responded to the allegations.

Steve Reinboldt’s sister Jolene said she first learned of her late brother’s purported years-long sexual abuse at the hands of the future Speaker of the House back in 1979 when her brother revealed to her that he was gay and had been out of high school for eight years.

“I asked him, when was your first same sex experience. He looked at me and said, ‘It was with Dennis Hastert,’” Jolene said. “I was stunned."

Jolene said she asked her brother why he never told anyone. “And he just turned around and kind of looked at me and said, ‘Who is ever going to believe me?’”


Jolene never asked for money from Hastert, but his sister believes that “Individual A” is familiar with what happened with her brother. She does not know who Individual A is, but she said she’s thankful that Hastert’s alleged misconduct is coming to light.

“I feel vindicated and that Steve’s vindicated, that Mr. Hastert can’t pull this wool over everybody’s eyes,” she said. “Finally the truth comes out.”

https://gma.yahoo.com/exclusive-all...tim-named-104016079--abc-news-topstories.html

 

[phrodeau]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dennis-hastert-intends-plead-guilty/story?id=34493828

Today Hastert’s attorneys informed the court that Hastert would change his plea in a hearing set for later this month. No other information about the plea deal -- including to which charges he plans to plead guilty -- were made available.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

Reporting from outside the federal courthouse in Chicago, NPR's Cheryl Corley tells our Newscast unit that the alleged wrongdoing "occurred decades ago when Hastert was a history teacher and a coach at Yorkville High School about 50 miles southwest of Chicago.

"It is not clear what charges Hastert, who was arraigned this summer, will be pleading guilty to."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...is-hastert-to-plead-guilty-in-hush-money-case

 

[phrodeau]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...alized-since-soon-after-guilty-plea/77502886/

Hastert, 73, suffered a stroke in early November, has been treated for sepsis and has also undergone two back surgeries since being hospitalized, his senior counsel Thomas Green said.

“We are hopeful that Mr. Hastert will be released from the hospital in the early part of the new year,” Green said. “The family very much desires that during Mr. Hastert’s continued hospitalization, his privacy will be respected.”

Hastert pleaded guilty in late October to one count of illegal structuring, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. But under the plea agreement, federal prosecutor Steven Block recommended that Hastert, the longest serving GOP speaker in history, be sentenced to zero to six months in federal prison.

Judge Thomas Durkin will make the final decision on terms of his sentence and may reject the prosecutor’s recommendation. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 29.

So if I don't want to respect his privacy, will he pay me off?

 

[phrodeau]

Dennis Hastert is managing to keep his face in the public eye this week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...96bd68-fcc8-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html

 

[someoneyouknow]

Dennis Hastert is managing to keep his face in the public eye this week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...96bd68-fcc8-11e5-80e4-c381214de1a3_story.html

And to think he can't be charged because of the statute of limitations.

Republicans seem to have a knack for not being held accountable for their crimes.

 

[phrodeau]

Sentenced to fifteen months and fined $250,000.

“The defendant is a serial child molester,” said Judge Thomas M. Durkin of Federal District Court in a tough rebuke of the former speaker before issuing his sentence. The judge added, “Nothing is more stunning than having ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the House’ in the same sentence.”

 

[JackLuis]

Sentenced to fifteen months and fined $250,000.

With luck it'll be a life sentence.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

What was sad, is that he had no sympathy for his victims.

He could not bring himself to voluntarily speak the words
that would take the undeserved burden from the victims.

He could not bring himself to break the passive denial
that he practised during his political life.

The court had to bring the victims forward, and have each of them
be brought to him, for a yes or no from him.

There would be no more denials from him.

They had to force it.