Posts

Former Military Lawyers Just Dropped a Bombshell on ‘Chelsea Manning’s’ Senate Run

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Chelsea Manning has filed to run for Senate as a Democratic candidate in Maryland, but such a run subjects Manning to prosecution for violating Pentagon regulations on political activities, according to former military lawyers.

Manning, the transgender soldier who spent seven years in prison for leaking more than 700,000 sensitive documents to WikiLeaks, recently filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for the Senate seat in Maryland currently occupied by Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, a two-term senator.

In a Thursday tweet, Manning posted a certificate of candidacy obtained from the Maryland State Board of Elections, an important and required step in the process of running for Senate.

One of the lines of the certificate states: “I am a registered voter and a citizen of Maryland and meet all other requirements for the above listed office.”

The website of the state board shows that Manning filed in Annapolis on Thursday, which is far in advance of the late February deadline and raises the stakes for the Democratic primary in Maryland set to begin at the end of June.

As part of the coverage of Manning’s filing with the FEC and state board, virtually every media organization has declared that Manning is a former Army private. In fact, as the Army confirmed to The Daily Caller News Foundation in September 2017, Manning remains an active-duty soldier, albeit on excess leave and in a non-pay status while his appeal of a general court-martial for violating the Espionage Act and other orders is still underway.

Manning was originally sentenced to 35 years in prison, but then-President Barack Obama stepped in and commuted the sentence as one of his last acts in office, freeing Manning from a military prison in Kansas.

The Army further stated that Manning holds an active-duty identification card and acknowledged his status and access to government health care prior to being released.

While Manning’s felony conviction does not appear to automatically disqualify a run for office, his active-duty status presents a much more troubling issue. Such a status, in other words, has enormous implications for engaging in any kind of political activity, especially a Senate run.

Dru Brenner-Beck, retired Army judge advocate general and president of the National Institute of Military Justice, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that on the face of it, Manning is prohibited by Department of Defense regulations from running for office while serving in an active-duty capacity.

The only exception is if Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis grants explicit permission, a power that cannot be delegated by a secretary to anyone else.

According to Brenner-Beck, the regulation in question is Department of Defense Directive 1344.10 Directive 1344.10, Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces, dated Feb. 9, 2008, para. 4.2.2.

“That paragraph is punitive and violation of it subjects her to courts-martial for violation of a lawful order or regulation under Article 92,” Brenner-Beck told TheDCNF. “Her activities campaigning for herself and fundraising for herself may also violate other provisions of the DoD Directive, themselves separately punishable under the UCMJ, art. 92.”

Brenner-Beck added that prosecution, in this case, is a “discretionary decision by her chain of command.”

Victor M. Hansen, a law professor at New England Law and former military lawyer, also agreed that Manning’s run for office is legally prohibited and could result in prosecution.

“It’s prohibited for the obvious reason that you don’t want someone serving two masters on active-duty,” Hansen stated.

He added: “But in Manning’s case, it’s less of a concern, because she’s on excess leave — she has less connection with the military than GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham did when he was an Air Force reserve judge advocate general and certainly less than Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster does while serving as national security adviser to Donald Trump.”

If the Pentagon declines to prosecute, it’s possible that other active-duty members of the military will assume that running for office or engaging in political campaigns or advocacy in ways that overstep the bounds of regulations won’t be met with much resistance.

But Hansen doesn’t think someone as outlandish as Manning would inspire other active-duty service members to violate DOD regulations and run for political office, in addition to other prohibited forms of political involvement. For Hansen, Manning is a bit of an exceptional case.

Brenner-Beck, however, believes that prosecution under the Trump administration is not out of the question because of Trump’s active involvement in disparaging Bowe Bergdahl, who was on trial for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy in Afghanistan. Brenner-Beck believes Bergdahl represents a blatant example of disregarding the principle of avoiding unlawful command influence.

Trump blasted Manning in January 2017, after Obama commuted his prison sentence, calling him an “ungrateful traitor” who never should have been released.

Hansen also warned of the possibility of outside pressure on Manning’s chain of command.

“There’s always the risk that somebody could put pressure on that commander or take it to a higher level and prosecute at that level, so there is a risk of unlawful command influence,” Hansen said. “If someone were to decide that we want to bring charges for Manning on this, that would be the very thing I would look into — who made the decision, why, and was there any outside pressures from above.”

According to Hansen, the Army likely wants the issue of Manning to fade away from the public spotlight rather than having a commander take the time to open an investigation.

In his first interview since filing paperwork with the FEC, Manning denied that the run was merely a PR stunt and insisted that despite Cardin’s popularity and strong base of support, he is dead-set on both running and winning.

“We know it’s a real fight ahead of us,” Manning told The Guardian. “We do want to win, but if we lose our principles then winning wouldn’t matter.”

Manning’s main political positions include closing down all prisons, providing free health care and opening U.S. borders to all immigrants.

“We shouldn’t be denying the absolute right to come into the United States,” he added. “You have a right, everybody does.”

It remains to be seen how other political entities will handle a prohibited run for office. So far, Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, the incumbent Manning is attempting to challenge, has only stated: “Senator Cardin is looking forward to a vigorous debate of the issues and a robust conversation with Maryland voters.”

Cardin’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Manning’s eligibility to run, neither did the Democratic Party of Maryland.

The Army refused to comment to TheDCNF.

Chelsea Manning did not respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Howard County, Maryland Approves Muslim, Hindu, Asian Holidays in School Calendar

/2 Comments/in , /by

Maryland’s Howard County Board of Education has unanimously voted to add Muslim, Hindu, and Asian holidays as days in which students will be off.

“This vote is proof that it is indeed possible to accommodate the religious needs of multiple faith communities in diverse school districts,” said Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Maryland Outreach Manager Zainab Chaudry. “Religious pluralism is the hallmark of an integrated and inclusive society. We see that reflected in the Howard County Board of Education’s decision.”

CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial, and a designated terror organization in the United Arab Emirates.

“I am extremely pleased by the Board’s ability to discuss and unanimously agree to seek ways to recognize the diverse backgrounds of Howard County’s students and families,” said board of education chairwoman Christine O’Connor. “We want to do our best to find flexibility within the calendar to provide opportunities for all students to experience all cultures within our community.”

The Baltimore Sun reports the school district has always closed schools on state-mandated holidays and on the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. However, a recent proposal to keep schools open on the Jewish holidays and only allow school closures for those mandated by the state evoked significant public attention in December. (Read more from “Howard County, Maryland Approves Muslim, Hindu, Asian Holidays in School Calendar” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Says He Has “Very Aggressive” Cancer of Lymph Nodes

/0 Comments/in , /by

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has “very advanced” and “very aggressive” cancer of the lymph nodes, but he said Monday he will continue to work as the state’s chief elected official.

Hogan said the cancer is B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He says it may be Stage 4, or at least a very advanced Stage 3.

He spoke at a hastily organized news conference in Annapolis, surrounded by members of his family and cabinet . . .

At the news conference with his wife, daughters, sons-in-law and granddaughter, Hogan said that he had noticed a painless lump along his jaw earlier this month. He also felt some back pain, which, he said, was caused by a tumor pressing on his spinal column.

While vowing to continue to work, Hogan allowed that he will miss days of work while undergoing intensive chemotherapy. He said he will lose his hair — “I won’t have these beautiful gray locks” — and maybe lose some weight. (Read more from “Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Says He Has Cancer of Lymph Nodes” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

U.S. Naval Academy Hosts First Same-Sex Wedding for Maryland Couple

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: NBC News

Photo Credit: NBC News

Beneath the magnificent cupola of the Navy’s most recognizable religious structure, two men — accompanied by their two children and about 100 guests — gathered here Saturday for the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel’s first-ever same-sex wedding.

For the Naval Academy, it was an historic milestone that David Bucher, a 49-year-old Academy graduate who works at the Pentagon, and partner Bruce Moats, 50, tied the knot. . .

The wedding was not widely publicized, and it wasn’t surprising to Naval Academy spokesman Cmdr. John Schofield to see no Academy opposition to the ceremony.

“The Naval Academy is all about creating leaders for the future and embodying and promoting a culture of dignity and respect,” Schofield said. “And I think that it’s in line with those values, those tenets that we hold dear, that we have our first same-sex marriage here.”

He said the Academy was proud to hold the wedding — in line with Maryland law. Same-sex marriage went into effect in 2013.

Read more from this story HERE.

U-Md. Database Containing Thousands of Student, Staff Records Hacked

/0 Comments/in , /by

University of Maryland officials have released a statement a day after the university’s president announced a database containing sensitive information about faculty, staff, students and affiliated personnel had been hacked.

Records including the names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and University identification numbers of more than 300,000 people from the College Park and Shady Grove campuses who have been issued a University ID since 1998 have been compromised.

University System of Maryland Chancellor William “Brit” Kirwan released a statement in the wake of the breach.

“Our campus information security officers meet regularly, and I am confident we will all learn from this development and make our security defense mechanisms even stronger. The objective of managing information security at each USM campus has been a priority objective for each president, and this incident only means that we must continue to increase our vigilance in attending to Internet theft and personal information security.”

Read more this story HERE.

Maryland Officials Were Warned for a Year of Problems with Online Health-Insurance Exchange

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post

Photo Credit: Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post

More than a year before Maryland launched its health insurance exchange, senior state officials failed to heed warnings that no one was ultimately accountable for the $170 million project and that the state lacked a plausible plan for how it would be ready by Oct. 1.

Over the following months, as political leaders continued to proclaim that the state’s exchange would be a national model, the system went through three different project managers, the feuding between contractors hired to build the online exchange devolved into lawsuits, and key people quit, including a top information technology official because, as he would later say, the project “was a disaster waiting to happen.”

The repeated warnings culminated days before the launch, with one from contractors testing the Web site that said it was “extremely unstable” and another from an outside consultant that urged state officials not to let residents enroll in health plans because there was “no clear picture” of what would happen when the exchange would turn on.

Within moments of its launch at noon Oct. 1, the Web site crashed in a calamitous debut that was supposed to be a crowning moment for Maryland officials who had embraced President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and pledged to build a state-run exchange that would be unparalleled.

Instead, by the next morning only four people had signed up using the Web site — and amazed that anyone had gotten through the system successfully, state officials contacted each of them to make sure they were real. The site’s problems continue to prevent Marylanders from signing up for health insurance. As of Friday, 20,358 people had selected private plans, and state officials have said they do not expect to come close to their initial goal of 150,000 by the end of March.

Read more from this story HERE.

Autopsy Confirms 33-Week Abortion Led to Young Woman’s Death

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Life News

The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has released the autopsy report on the death of Jennifer Morbelli, which again confirms the young woman died on February 7, 2013, from complications to a 33-week abortion done by late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart.

Jennifer McKenna Morbelli, a 29-year-old woman from New Rochelle, New York died from a botched 33-week abortion. The medical examiner’s office confirmed a botched 33-week abortion killed the young woman.

The official death certificate also confirmed Morbelli died at 12:25 p.m. on February 7 at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. Section 23a indicated that the cause of death was Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation “due to or as a consequence of Amniotic Fluid Embolism following Medical Termination of Pregnancy,” making it clear that the abortion was the event that led to her death.

Now that the autopsy report has been released, the Medical Examiner’s findings are in keeping with the cause of death released earlier and recorded on her death certificate. The report emphasized that the complication occurred after the dangerous late-late term abortion was completed, and reiterated that the manner of death was “natural” even though she would not have died had she not receive the abortion.

Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, which brought Morbelli’s death to light, said some are already using the autopsy to make false claims that the abortion was not responsible for Morbelli’s death.

Read more from this story HERE.

Beretta Exec Likens Gun Ban to Book Ban

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Photo Credit: APBeretta USA, one of the nation’s largest firearms manufacturers, compared a Maryland gun-control bill to a book ban Friday and warned it may consider leaving the state if the legislation passes.

Beretta general counsel Jeffrey Reh said Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Firearm Safety Act of 2013 is “tantamount to a legislative effort to ban certain books” during testimony before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee.

“That might seem like a provocative statement but the parallels are apt,” Reh said, according to testimony obtained by the Free Beacon. “The possession and use of firearms and printed materials are both protected by the Constitution. Both rights come from the only legislation in U.S. history that was voted on and approved directly by the citizens of our country.”

“One might suggest that books do not kill and that the current legislation is sought for beneficial reasons,” Reh continued. “In fact, the misuse of books—say, the Bible or the Koran—have led to tragedy, and efforts to ban certain books—for example, Huckleberry Finn—have also come from allegedly ‘beneficial’ intent.”

The Maryland Senate passed O’Malley’s contentious bill late Thursday night. The bill moved Friday to the House of Delegates where thousands of supporters and opponents flooded the Capitol to watch events unfold.

Read more from this story HERE.

Maryland’s Endemic Corruption: An Object Lesson for the Nation (+video)

/2 Comments/in /by

AIM Special Report. Maryland is one of the most corrupt states in our nation. Nowhere is this fact more evident than with the state’s treatment of illegal aliens. Maryland politicians have literally become lawless in their efforts to cultivate illegals, and this lawlessness flows downhill from the very top. I will focus on a few of the more egregious examples.

In 2011, we published a report on CASA de Maryland, a Silver Spring-based illegal immigrant advocacy group that parrots ACORN in both its methods and associates—which include the Communist Party USA, FMLN, (a former Salvadoran communist guerilla group, now a political party), ACORN and others. Yet it is one of the most influential organizations in the state.

CASA receives significant state government funding, while Director Gustavo Torres and his wife, Sonia Mora both hold influential positions within that same government. Torres is a member of the Governor’s Council for New Americans and served on Governor Martin O’Malley’s transition team. Mora sits on the Governor’s Hispanic Affairs Commission and manages Montgomery County’s Latino Health Initiative. This is unseemly if not illegal. Torres’ primary source of income is CASA de Maryland, and CASA owes its inordinate influence to its many supporters in state government.

There is no disputing CASA’s influence. At a party to celebrate CASA’s 25 years of operation, Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot said, “I’d like to say I’m here for Mary Kay and Eliseo [the guests of honor], but when Gustavo Torres calls, I generally get in my car and go over and ask him what he wants.”

Torres’ influence extends to the White House. Former CASA Board member Cecilia Muñoz is President Obama’s Domestic Policy Director. Muñoz, who also worked for the National Council of La Raza, has been a persistent advocate for illegals throughout her tenure. Former CASA Board member Thomas Perez is now Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Holder Justice Department. Many of the odious lawsuits launched by the DOJ have been under Perez’s pen, including suits against states’ voter ID laws, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Arizona’s anti-illegal alien law.

As quoted by The Washington Post, Baltimore County Delegate Pat McDonough put it bluntly: “Gustavo has created a sanctuary state. The governor does his bidding. The politicians who control power in the State of Maryland do his bidding. … And his success has caused financial and personal heartbreak for the State of Maryland.”

When Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins cracked down on illegals flooding the county, CASA sued. They claimed that two of Jenkins’ deputies violated an illegal’s civil rights by questioning her, although she had an outstanding warrant and tried to run and hide when she saw them. CASA lost. Sheriff Jenkins stated:

I find it deplorable and disgusting that the groups involved in this lawsuit have tried to defame… the agency and discredit the two involved deputies and drag them through the mud for what is clearly their agenda in attempting to stop and derail the 287 program here in Frederick County.

Paulette Faulkner, an employee of Montgomery County’s Office of Child Support Enforcement, sent an email to Governor O’Malley in 2009, describing routine cases of illegals attempting to collect welfare benefits. She received a stern warning from then Department of Human Resources Deputy Secretary Stacy Rodgers not to complain.

Rodgers, who shares a seat with Torres on the Council for New Americans, told Faulkner to accept CASA de Maryland ID cards as legitimate identification. Faulkner refused, knowing that to follow that order would break the law. A short time later she was fired. She found no support from any legislator and was refused unemployment compensation. In the meantime, an audit revealed some 52,000 welfare recipients using invalid or non-existent social security numbers. A 2011 audit found similar problems.

Last year, Delegate Tony O’Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) proposed HB-28, “Public Benefits — Requirement of Proof of Lawful Presence” which would have addressed the problems identified both by Faulkner and the two audits. The bill reasonably required welfare recipients to prove their eligibility with a valid ID. Help Save Maryland President Brad Botwin and Howard County resident Tom Young both went to Annapolis to testify on the bill’s behalf, each taking significant time off from work to attend the hearing.

Protocol demands that those in favor of the proposed law testify first. In what was characterized as a deliberate slight, the committee chairman, Del. Norman Conway (D-Dist. 38B), instead called a long list of bill opponents, including CASA de Maryland, the ACLU and others. They testified for over an hour, whereupon Del. Conway abruptly ended the hearing and ran from the room, shutting out any possibility of allowing proponents to speak.

Read more from this story HERE.

Gay Marriage Approved by Voters, First Time in US History

/5 Comments/in , /by

Americans for the first time approved gay marriage at the ballot box on Tuesday, pointing to changing attitudes on the divisive issue.

In Maine and Maryland, voters approved ballot initiatives to begin allowing same-sex unions. Those wins mark a first for a cause that had previously been rejected by voters in more than 30 states, including as recently as 2009 in Maine.

And in Minnesota, where gay marriage is already not allowed, voters declined to back an initiative that would enshrine in the state’s constitution a definition of marriage permitting only a union between a man and woman.

In Washington state, where voters also weighed an initiative to legalize gay marriage, the vote count was expected to stretch on for days. With half of the vote counted as of 3 a.m. Eastern time, nearly 52% supported the idea.

In Maine, campaigners for same-sex marriage said the win marked a turning point for their cause. “We made history here tonight and showed that voters can change their minds,” said Matt McTighe, the campaign director of Mainers United for Marriage. “That will serve as something of a signal to other states who have lost marriage fights before at ballot boxes. You can change those minds.”

Read more from this story HERE.