According to an April 29 Washington Post article headlined FBI looking into relationship between McDonnells, donor, “FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid [approximately $15,000] for the food at the wedding of the governor’s daughter…”

The issue at hand is whether the Republican governor gave a major campaign donor special treatment in return for personal gifts to his family.

In terms of compromising the integrity of the office an official holds and the public’s trust in the official, does it really matter if the high-value items such as cash, gifts, or lucrative business contracts have been given to close family members rather than directly to the public official?

After Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had regained consciousness in a Boston hospital, he was interviewed by federal and police investigators.  Some of the interview was intentionally conducted prior to Tsarnaev’s being the Miranda warnings which inform someone in custody of his right to remain silent and to have legal counsel.

The news media characterized the reasoning behind the pre-Miranda questioning as being the “public safety exception.”

On April 24, 2013, the Congressional Research Service released its report explaining the basis for the “public safety exception.”  The 13-page report is titled Terrorism, Miranda, and Related Matters.

Meet  Tom Owings.  He’s the Mayor of Moreno Valley, CA, a city of approximately 195,000 people just east of Riverside, CA.

Here’s how Mayor Owings publicly addressed his constituents who disagreed with him at the April 23 city council meeting.

And here was Mayor Owings’ morning wakeup call on April 30 courtesy of the Inland Regional Corruption Task Force, which includes the Riverside County district attorney’s office, FBI, IRS and U.S. attorney’s office .  Also receiving similar wakeup calls were four members of the Moreno Valley City Council and the offices of a major local developer.   Here is some background on those who were served with the search warrants. (more…)

This past weekend the Washington Post Magazine published a lengthy and fascinating article about Ana Montes, a former (now incarcerated) spy for Cuba’s Dirección General de Inteligencia (DGI – General Intelligence Directorate).   Montes is a US citizen whose personal ideology led her to become a spy for the DGI.

The WaPo Magazine article and the book mentioned in it, former DIA counterintelligence investigator Scott Carmichael’s book True Believer:  Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba’s Master Spy, give some insight into the world of human intelligence collection and  counterintelligence.

For example… (more…)

The Sunday, April 14th Idaho Statesman has a column titled Tim Woodward:  Enough public art fiascos, thanks.  In his article, Woodward suggests that Boise may have the corner on Idaho’s tasteless art market.

Wrong, southern Idaho spud picker!

At least in the genre of “art to puke by after bar break,”  Coeur d’Alene has blown by Boise and left it in a steaming crack.

Right in downtown Coeur d’Alene at 6th and Sherman we have artist Jason Sanchez’s work titled “Art & Soul” or as some have called it, “Man Urinating in Paint Bucket.” 

The sign next to “Art & Soul” informs Coeur d’Alene’s art community that Mr. Sanchez is willing to let this representative  piece of Coeur d’Alene art go for a mere $9,600.  From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely hope that someone from Boise will buy it and promptly display it there.  Until that happens, Coeur d’Alene will retain its title as “#1 Tasteless Art City in Idaho.”

“Old Dog” posted this analytical comment on Mary’s post titled Here They Go Again.  Please take the time to read his comment.

What he’s describing resembles a variation on “blockbusting.”  The 1950’s definition of blockbusting involved profiteers starting rumors in a community that ethnic minorities would be moving in.  The intent of the rumors was to cause panic among property owners and induce them to sell their properties (to the profiteers) at dramatically reduced prices.

A more modern version of blockbusting might have local government officials, possibly in collusion with would-be profiteers, allowing sections of town to deteriorate to drive property prices down.  The properties would be bought up by profiteers, or the profiteers may already own immediately adjacent properties.  Then the municipality’s urban renewal agency might be encouraged to pump a lot of urban renewal money (that’s public money for those who may still think it is “free money”) into infrastructure, thus driving property values back up at the expense of the public.  Then the profiteers and their cronies who owned adjacent land would reap the profits resulting from increased property values and newer development.

Fortunately, nothing like that could ever happen in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho…