Between Hillary Clinton and now Chelsea Manning and General Cartwright it just shows that there is different strokes for different folks when it comes to mishandling classified information:
Chelsea Manning
President Barack Obama on Tuesday overruled his secretary of defense to commute the sentence of former Army soldier Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks.
The decision — which a senior defense official told CNN was made over the objections of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter — immediately touched off a controversy in the closing days of the Obama administration. A former intelligence official described being “shocked” to learn of Obama’s decision, adding that the “entire intelligence community is deflated by this inexplicable use of executive power.” The official said the move was “deeply hypocritical given Obama’s denunciation of WikiLeaks’ role in the hacking of the (Democratic National Committee).” [CNN]
Here is a thought question? If Manning wasn’t transgender would she have gotten the commuting of her sentence? It doesn’t matter now and Manning is undoubtedly going to be hero of the anti-war left when she is released in May.
With General Cartwright’s pardon what I found most interesting was the details of how he was caught by the FBI as a leaker in the first place:
General James Cartwright
The Stuxnet campaign appears to have been successful, and its disclosure, originally in a front-page New York Times story and a book by Sanger, helped burnish Obama’s national security credentials leading up to his 2012 reelection campaign. But FBI agents, after obtaining his email traffic, soon identified Cartwright — who had by then retired but continued to serve on the Defense Policy Board — as a key suspect. When he was interviewed in November 2012, Cartwright initially denied that he ever discussed classified information with Klaidman and Sanger. Then, FBI agents showed him his email correspondence with Klaidman. At that point, Cartwright “took off his glasses, started rubbing his eyes and told interviewing agents, ‘You got me’,” according to a court filing by prosecutors last week.
The agents then showed Cartwright an email exchange he had with Sanger. After reading through the email, “Cartwright was shaking, losing color in his face and clearing his throat. Cartwright attempted to explain the email; however, his speech became slurred and he subsequently slumped over in his chair and lost consciousness,” according to the court filing.
Cartwright was immediately rushed to the hospital. After his release a few days later, he agreed to another interview with the FBI and confessed that he had indeed discussed classified information with the journalists. He formally pleaded guilty last September and was due to be sentenced next week. [Yahoo News]
It just amazes me that someone of General Cartwright’s stature is leaking highly classified information to a reporter via email. He has to know that intelligence agencies would be targeting such emails for collection purposes.
It appears South Korean prosecutors have been able to flip Choi Soon-sil’s niece and she is testifying against her. With Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong saying he felt pressured him to give money to Choi’s foundation and her own niece confirming the allegation, it seems the prosecutors have a very strong case against her now:
Chang Si-ho (front, L), Kim Chong (front, C) and Choi Soon-sil (front, R) stand trial at the Seoul Central District Court on Jan. 17, 2017. (Yonhap)
Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the center of a South Korean presidential impeachment scandal, clashed with a niece Tuesday over allegations they coerced Samsung Group into making donations to a sports foundation under their control.
Choi, her niece Chang Si-ho and former Vice Culture and Sports Minister Kim Chong were summoned to the Seoul Central District Court to testify on allegations they colluded to extort more than 1.6 billion won (US$1.35 million) in donations from the nation’s largest business group to the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center, which was established in June 2015.
Chang early on admitted that they forced the donations from Samsung and that she embezzled funds from the center. Her admission came a day after special prosecutors investigating the scandal sought an arrest warrant for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong on charges of bribery.
According to the prosecutors, Lee was involved in Samsung’s decision to give up to 43 billion won to various organizations linked to Choi in return for the Park Geun-hye administration’s backing of a merger between two companies belonging to the conglomerate in 2015. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but what I haven’t seen strong evidence of yet is how President Park Geun-hye was involved in all of this?
This is a pretty bold sexual assault to drug multiple women in the back of a taxi and then sexually assault them. I am willing to bet this is probably not the first time this taxi cab driver has done this:
Two South Korean women said they were sexually attacked by a taxi driver while traveling to a night market in Taipei, according to local reports and the Korean foreign ministry on Sunday.
According to the reports, three Korean women hired a taxi around 6 p.m. on Thursday to visit the popular Shilin Night Market. The taxi driver, identified only by his surname Chan, was said to have given them a soft drink while heading to the market. Two of them, sitting at the back, passed out after drinking it while the one who was sitting in the passenger seat didn’t drink it.
Upon arriving at the market, the sober woman tried to wake them up, to no avail, and went to check out the market alone, thinking the two fell asleep due to tiredness. She went back to the taxi around an hour later to find out they were still sleeping. The three then returned to the hotel.
The next day, the two reported to the local police that they were sexually assaulted by the taxi driver.
On Saturday night, the police summoned Chan for investigation. They soon detained him as the suspect partially admitted to the assault in his testimony. He is reported to have said he only meant to touch them.
Meanwhile, a blood test revealed that the victims had sleeping-inducing drugs in their blood.
“The Taiwanese police detained the suspect for investigation and are likely to charge him,” an official from the foreign ministry told Yonhap News Agency, adding that the women have returned to Korea. [Yonhap]
Obviously these two knuckleheads are not readers of the ROK Drop because if they were they would know that smuggling drugs through the US military mail is now an easy way to get yourself arrested:
Two 2nd Infantry Division soldiers have been indicted in connection with a $10 million methamphetamine smuggling case involving the U.S. military postal service, officials said Wednesday.
The shipment of nearly eight pounds of meth — in three packages with labels saying they contained candy — was discovered in late October by the customs service at the Incheon airport near Seoul.
Authorities then monitored the shipment and detained the soldiers, both 19, for questioning days later when they moved to collect it.
The men were indicted Tuesday on charges of violating the narcotics control act. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but these two were getting paid $3,000 and $1,000 for agreeing to have the drugs mailed to them on behalf of a Korean-American in Uijongbu who denying all the charges.
Here we go again with another crazy guy committing a mass shooting:
This photo from social media shows Fort Lauderdale airport shooting suspect Esteban Santiago, according to multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation. When and where the photo was taken is not clear, but the images have been circulated to law enforcement in the context of the ongoing criminal investigation. [NBC News]
The man police say opened fire with a gun from his checked baggage at a Florida airport had a history of mental health issues — some of which followed his military service in Iraq — and was receiving psychological treatment at his home in Alaska, his relatives said Friday after the deadly shooting.
“Only thing I could tell you was when he came out of Iraq, he wasn’t feeling too good,” his uncle, Hernan Rivera, told The Record newspaper.
Esteban Santiago, 26, deployed in 2010 as part of the Puerto Rico National Guard, spending a year with an engineering battalion, according to Guard spokesman Maj. Paul Dahlen. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but we have heard this claim before of service in Iraq or Afghanistan being the reason someone committed a crime to find out later they were a Fobbit that never saw active combat. I won’t believe his service in Iraq had anything to do with him committing this crime until I hear what his service record was in Iraq. There is actually a pretty good chance he did not see active combat considering the timeframe he was in Iraq in 2010-2011 was when the pullout happened.
Additionally according to what the media has reported so far all he received from his Iraq deployment was a Iraq Campaign Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal which everyone gets. If he was participating in active combat you would think he would have received at least an AAM or ARCOM plus a Combat Action Badge. Based on the information currently available I would not be surprised if Santiago’s mental issues are unrelated to his military service.
Here is a real dirtbag that hopefully will be spending the rest of his life in prison:
A man who killed his pregnant girlfriend also attempted to murder his ex-lover, a court said Monday.
Daejeon High Court, sitting as an appeal court, sentenced the man, 37, whose name has been withheld, to 35 years’ jail, increasing the initial 30-year sentence because of his “inhumane sin.”
The court said the man went to Jeju Island with his girlfriend last November to search for a place to open a restaurant. The couple spent a night at a motel and next morning had an argument over financial issues. The man then tried to strangle the woman because she “disrespected him.” When he found she was not dead, he made another attempt using a hairdryer cord.
The man then put the woman’s body into their rental car and set the vehicle alight to make her death look like it was the result of an accident. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but the guy was recently out of prison for trying to kill his ex-girlfriend.
You would think with the millions of dollars this guy has made as a major leaguer he could at least afford his own driver or at least a taxi:
In this file photo taken on Dec. 6, 2016, Kang Jung-ho, South Korean infielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, arrives at Gangnam Police Station in southern Seoul to face questioning over allegations he fled the scene after causing a traffic accident while driving under the influence of alcohol earlier in the month. (Yonhap)
Seoul police said Wednesday they’re seeking to indict Pittsburgh Pirates’ infielder Kang Jung-ho on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Police have handed the case over to prosecutors after investigating Kang for leaving the scene of a DUI accident in the nation’s capital on Dec. 2.
It was Kang’s third DUI arrest, which resulted in revocation of his license.
Kang fled the scene after crashing into a guard rail on his way to his hotel in southern Seoul. In the immediate aftermath, a friend of Kang’s in the passenger seat, only identified by the surname Yoo, reported to police as the driver of the vehicle. Police analyzed the black box inside the vehicle and determined that Kang had actually been behind the wheel.
Police are also seeking indictment of Kang’s friend. They said they couldn’t clearly establish that the two had intentionally misled police or that Kang had specifically asked Yoo to offer false testimony at first.
Kang, who has two major leaguer seasons under his belt, also faced sexual assault allegations that emerged in Chicago in July.
He was named to the South Korean national team for the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC) scheduled for March, but will likely be dropped from the 28-man roster as early as Wednesday. [Yonhap]
It looks like this guy may be too self destructive to remain a major league baseball player considering he only hit .255 last year with 21 home runs.
It seems this guy should face far more serious punishment than what Cho Hyun-ah faced in the Nut Rage Incident:
Lim Bum-jun
Police on Tuesday requested an arrest warrant for the man who drunkenly attacked passengers and crew members on a Korean Air flight from Hanoi to Seoul for violating the Aviation Safety and Security Act.
The man, a 34-year-old named Lim Bum-jun, was seated in prestige class (business class) on Dec. 20 when he struck another passenger in the face and attacked cabin crew who tried to restrain him. He was subdued only after the crew and others, including American pop singer Richard Marx, tied him to a seat.
“Police requested an arrest warrant for Lim for wreaking havoc on the plane and violating the Aviation Safety and Security Act,” said a police officer. “This is a graver charge than a mere disciplinary action for violence on a plane.”
The charge is the same that former Vice President of Korean Air Cho Hyun-ah received in 2014, over the infamous “nut rage” tantrum. She was sentenced to one year in prison in her first trial, but in her appeal was sentenced to 10 months with two years of probation. Suspects charged with violating the Aviation Safety and Security Act can be sentenced to up to five years in prison. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but Korean Air confirms this is the second time Lim made trouble on a flight and have thus banned him for life from flying on the airline.
It looks like the US military may have its first execution in more than half a century:
A Kansas federal judge has lifted a stay of execution for a former soldier sentenced to death for two killings and a series of rapes, inching the man closer to becoming the military’s first death sentence carried out in more than a half century.
U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten last week sided with the U.S. government in denying a bid by former Fort Bragg, N.C., soldier Ronald A. Gray to block the military from pressing ahead with the execution by lethal injection.
Since a military court sentenced him to die in 1988, Gray has been held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where the military carried out its last execution when it hanged Army Pvt. John Bennett in 1961 for raping and trying to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl. [The Virginian Pilot]
It seems to me if the Foreign Ministry really wants to send a message about the behavior of the former diplomat they should send him packing back to Chile to face legal consequences there:
A screengrab from a Chilean TV program showing South Korean diplomat Park Jeong-hak attempting to kiss an actress disguised as a teenage girl.
South Korea’s foreign ministry referred a diplomat to the prosecution on Wednesday over sexually abusing a teenage girl in Chile, officials said.
The councilor, previously posted at the South Korean Embassy in Chile, is accused of committing a sexual offense against a 14-year-old girl in September while teaching her Korean.
Tipped off by the girl, a Chilean television channel filmed and broadcast the diplomat sexually harassing another woman earlier in the month who was acting as a teenage girl trying to receive Korean language lessons.
Holding a disciplinary committee on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the diplomat surnamed Park from public office.
“Today, the ministry reported Park to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and submitted evidence including an indictment bill filed by the victim’s family,” officials here said. [Yonhap]
