Information Is Power

Good, solid information is the best resource that the public can use. Primary sources when possible and good discussions and studies when informative.

Meet Patrick Douglas Scruggs | Department Of Justice Prosecutor Who Persecuted Peaceful January 6th Defendants | Accused Of Continuing To Terrorize Americans As He Stabbed Fellow Motorists

Howard Frankland stabbing suspect is former federal prosecutor | Tampa Bay Times

Patrick Douglas Scruggs, who worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa for about a decade, is accused of stabbing another motorist after a crash.

Patrick Douglas Scruggs, Former United State Department of Justice January 6 Prosecutor

Patrick Douglas Scruggs, 38, of Tampa, was arrested and booked into the Pinellas County Jail on Tuesday. He faces charges of aggravated battery, aggravated assault and armed burglary after authorities say he repeatedly stabbed a driver on the Howard Frankland Bridge after the driver struck Scruggs’ sedan. [ Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office ]

A man accused of stabbing another motorist after a crash on the Howard Frankland Bridge on Tuesday is a former assistant U.S. attorney who spent about a decade at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa.

Patrick Douglas Scruggs, 38, of Tampa, worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office from September 2012 until April of this year, according to his LinkedIn page. His time there included appearing on behalf of the federal government during hearings for Florida residents accused of taking part in the riots at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.

In May, he joined Barnes and Thornburg, an Atlanta-based private law firm, as an “of counsel” attorney, the page says. The page describes Scruggs as “a seasoned litigator and investigator with experience in various practice areas of criminal law.”

Now Scruggs faces his own legal trouble stemming from a bizarre chain of events that unfolded on the Howard Frankland as rush hour was winding down on Tuesday morning.

According to a news release issued Tuesday by the Florida Highway Patrol, a 40-year-old Tampa man was driving a sedan south on Interstate 275 when he and his 43-year-old wife noticed a vehicle that was stopped in the travel lanes of the bridge shortly before 9:24 a.m. The 35-year-old driver, also of Tampa, was slumped over inside his sedan, troopers said, so the couple pulled over in front of the car to help.

The 40-year-old man was unable to get inside the other sedan, so he walked back to his car to get something that could break the window. While he was doing that, the 35-year-old man woke up and accelerated forward, crashing into the couple’s sedan. He shifted into reverse and then tried to get around the couple’s sedan, according to troopers, but at that point, he struck Scruggs’ sedan as he was driving by the scene.

Scruggs pulled over, got out and walked up to the driver of the vehicle that hit his car. According to the Highway Patrol, Scruggs broke a window and started stabbing the 35-year-old man with a pocketknife.

The couple returned to the vehicle to help the man being stabbed, but Scruggs then tried to stab them and they fled, troopers said. . . .

Days after the riots at the U.S. Capital in 2021, Scruggs appeared on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office during the bond hearing of Adam Johnson, the Parrish man who became one of the most prominent symbols of the riots that engulfed the U.S. Capitol when he was photographed carrying a lectern from the House of Representatives. Scruggs asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Tuite to order certain restrictions while Johnson was on release, including drug testing, the surrender of his passport and a nightly curfew.

“This is a serious case,” Scruggs told the judge. “Everyone involved in the storming of the Capitol last week needs to be held accountable for their actions, including Mr. Johnson.”

Another judge in 2022 sentenced Johnson to 75 days in jail.

Meet the guy who prosecuted me in Tampa for walking in a building on January 6th.
My crimes were so egregious that he demanded I wear an ankle monitor, be drugged tested at random, surrender my passports, be restricted to middle district of Florida, and given a nightly curfew.… — The Lectern Guy🇺🇸 (@lecternleader) September 27, 2023

Retiring Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley Is Hitting The Media Circuit As He Retires | Victor David Hansen

By Great Bloggers | September 28, 2023

Retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley is hitting the media circuit as he retires. How odd of him to warn about all the unconstitutional measures that Donald Trump threatened to enact that supposedly justified the illegal or unethical acts that his opponents in the military and intelligence community actually did.

Or to put it another way, Biden’s abject corruption, his chronic lying, his unapologetic racial condescension, his utter destruction of the border, and his dementia still would not justify Milley’s replacement to call his communist Chinese counterpart to warn him that Biden was cognitively inert and dangerous, or to order theater commanders to ignore Biden-routed orders and instead report directly to him.

Nor would Biden’s pathologies justify a dozen or so retired 4-stars to violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice by publicly blasting Biden a liar, a Mussolini, and to be gone the sooner the better.

Nor would Biden’s failed and dangerous presidency warrant a former Pentagon lawyer to publish a warning that he needed to be removed by a possible military coup. Nor would Biden’s dangers to the republic justify 51 former “Intelligence authorities” to issue a lying affidavit to warp an upcoming presidential debate and election.

So Mark Milley ends as he begins—without a clue that he and others set precedents that if followed with future controversial presidents would soon destroy the republic.

Retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley is hitting the media circuit as he retires. How odd of him to warn about all the unconstitutional measures that Donald Trump threatened to enact that supposedly justified the illegal or unethical acts that his opponents in…

— Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) September 27, 2023

More Debilitating Side Effects after Teens Get Government-Backed HPV Vaccine | Judicial Watch

By | September 27, 2023

Despite life-threatening side effects exposed by Judicial Watch more than a decade ago the government keeps pushing a dangerous cervical and genital cancer vaccine for children and two recent legal cases help illustrate the ongoing risks. The vaccine is called Gardasil and in the last ten years Judicial Watch has uncovered troves of government records documenting its harmful side effects. The vaccine was scandalously fast-tracked by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was ardently promoted by the Obama administration as a miracle shot that can prevent certain strains of cervical and genital cancer caused by the sexually transmitted Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Instead, it’s been linked to thousands of serious side effects, according to the government’s own daunting statistics. This includes thousands of cases of paralysis, convulsions, blindness, and dozens of deaths. Back in 2008, after receiving the first disturbing batch of records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Judicial Watch published a special report detailing Gardasil’s approval process, side effects, safety concerns and marketing practices. Undoubtedly, it illustrates a large-scale public health experiment.

This is especially relevant today because the government refuses to make public adverse events caused by the heavily promoted COVID-19 vaccines, though reports of negative side effects have surfaced here and there. In August, Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the records, but the agency has refused to provide the information and a few days ago Judicial Watch sued HHS in federal court for the documents, which should be public. Judicial Watch specifically requests all emails sent to and from members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee regarding adverse events, deaths and/or injuries caused by investigatory vaccines for the prevention or treatment of SARS-CoV-2 and/or COVID-19 currently produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and/or Johnson & Johnson. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee “reviews and evaluates data concerning the safety, effectiveness, and appropriate use of vaccines and related biological products which are intended for use in the prevention, treatment, or diagnosis of human diseases, and, as required, any other products for which the Food and Drug Administration has regulatory responsibility.”

If the Gardasil case is any indication, the government cannot be trusted. The vaccine, which is manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Merck, continues to be recommended by the CDC
for all boys and girls at ages 11-12 to protect against HPV-related infections and cancers. “There is one licensed HPV vaccine available in the United States [Gardasil],” the CDC writes, in its recommendation, which states that HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Infections are so common, according to the CDC, that nearly all men and women will become infected, though “most infections are asymptomatic and become undetectable.” The agency adds that for the HPV vaccine to be most effective the series should begin prior to exposure. Under Obama, the shot was recommended for kids starting at age nine. The administration gave dozens of state and municipal health agencies tens of millions of dollars to boost the number of adolescents that get Gardasil. The campaign included targeting low-income and ethnic minority populations that receive “culturally sensitive” intervention in a variety of languages, including Spanish, Mandarin, Armenian and Korean. Nevertheless, years ago Judicial Watch obtained records from HHS revealing that its National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) awarded nearly $6 million to dozens of victims in claims made against the very HPV vaccine it keeps pushing on children.

This month a pair of lawsuits filed against Merck in Georgia claim two healthy teenagers developed autoimmune disorders and other serious symptoms after receiving Gardasil. In the first complaint a 19-year-old woman claims that within a few days of getting the Gardasil vaccine at the age of 14, she sustained serious and debilitating injuries, including but not limited to autonomic, neurological and heterogenous autoimmune injuries. She dropped out of school and developed a rash and panic attacks, felt weak, had vision problems, and felt as if she was sedated. In the second complaint the parents of another girl claim their daughter experienced severe physical and mental responses after receiving the shot as a 13-year-old. That girl had persistent nausea and fatigue within weeks of getting the shot and was eventually diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder by a specialist at a renowned medical clinic.

The post More Debilitating Side Effects after Teens Get Government-Backed HPV Vaccine appeared first on Judicial Watch.

The DOJ And Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Sordid History Of Weaponizing The Espionage Act | The Federalist

By Great Bloggers | July 25, 2023

The record shows that the DOJ is adept at using the Espionage Act as a cudgel to punish its political enemies.

Barely two weeks ago, the lawfare cabal at Just Security, led by Andrew Weissmann, the former senior prosecutor for the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation, released the second edition of their “model prosecution memorandum” to (presumably) help out his former colleagues at the Department of Justice (DOJ). The document seeks to offer up nearly any theory of law to “get Trump.”

Just Security bills itself as “an online forum for the rigorous analysis of security, democracy, foreign policy, and rights,” but in practice, the organization, funded in part by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, is the legal beachhead of the Trump resistance. Their model document provides 186 pages of “throw the book at him” musings along with 222 separate footnotes and has largely telegraphed the DOJ’s legal strategy. The document is supported by a variety of public and nonpublic allegations (surely a mixture of leaked information and fabricated information if history is any guide). The fact that their roadmap nearly parallels the now-public indictment of former President Donald Trump is surely a coincidence.

Prosecuting Leaks and Foreign Spies

The “document retention” portion of the Espionage Act states:

§793. Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information

(e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it… (emphasis added)

Prominently in their model prosecution memorandum related to the Espionage Act is the acknowledgment that the statute is typically used for “leaking cases and foreign government spies.” Dismissing the DOJ’s historical circumspection regarding its applicability, the document proceeds to weave together a basis to charge Trump under the statute. It is unclear if the fan fiction roadmap was needed, as the record shows that the DOJ is in fact quite adept at using 18 U.S.C. 793 (e) as a cudgel to punish its political enemies. Take for instance the case of Thomas A. Drake.

Government Cudgels a Political Enemy

Drake Joined the National Security Agency (NSA) as an executive on Sept. 11, 2001. He quickly became concerned about illegal activities, waste, and mismanagement within the agency. Accordingly, he attempted to raise concerns through standard channels and even elevated his concerns to Congress as a whistleblower.

Eventually, after getting nowhere trying to blow the lid off both financial waste and abuse of Americans’ fundamental civil rights via certain NSA surveillance programs, he decided to leak certain controlled information to a media contact. The resulting stories about the Trailblazer program published in The Baltimore Sun in 2006 and 2007 embarrassed Michael Hayden’s NSA.

Our government rewarded his efforts in November 2007 with a raid on his home, initially suspecting him of being the source of the leaks that disclosed the agency’s warrantless wiretapping in a 2005 New York Times expose. He denied having anything to do with those leaks but acknowledged providing unclassified information to The Baltimore Sun.

After the raid of his home, which caused him to lose his job, the government sat on the case for nearly three years before indicting him in April 2010. The indictment levied five counts of willful retention of National Defense Information (the Espionage Act charges), one charge of obstruction of justice, and four counts of false statements, but the case was eventually pleaded to a misdemeanor. At sentencing, the judge excoriated the government, first for wasting the court’s time only to settle the case on the eve of trial for a misdemeanor, and second for jerking around the defendant for as long as they did.

THE COURT: What message is sent by the government, Mr. Welch … when the government dismisses a ten-count indictment a year after indictment, on the eve of trial, after days and days of hearings under the Classified Information and Procedures Act, and in what I find to be an extraordinary position taken by the government, probably unprecedented in this courthouse, for a case of this profile, literally on a Thursday afternoon before a Monday trial, subject to the government to be prepared as you will in a moment to dismiss the entire ten-count indictment and allow the defendant to plead guilty to a misdemeanor?

…

THE COURT: And as I tell you, as I say to you, Mr. Welch, I find it extraordinary. I even talked to one of my colleagues about it, his career background is similar to mine, I find it extraordinary in this case for an individual’s home to be searched in November of 2007, for the government to have no explanation for a two year delay, not a two and a half year delay, for him to then be indicted in April of 2010, and then over a year later, on the eve of trial, in June of 2011, the government says, whoops, we dropped the whole case. . . .

Full Article | The DOJ And Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Sordid History Of Weaponizing The Espionage Act