Bad Week For Ivy League Leeches

 

Former Harvard Morgue Manager, Wife Sentenced For Stealing And Selling Body Parts

Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times,

A former morgue manager at Harvard Medical School has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling human body parts donated for scientific research, the Department of Justice said.

Cedric Lodge, 58, was sentenced on Dec. 16 during a hearing in federal court in Pennsylvania. His wife, Denise Lodge, 65, received a sentence of 12 months and one day in prison.

The couple previously pleaded guilty to charges related to the interstate transportation of stolen goods. Cedric Lodge admitted to stealing body parts from cadavers donated to Harvard Medical School’s Anatomical Gift Program and selling them to buyers across the country.

Prosecutors said that between 2018 and March 2020, Cedric Lodge stole and trafficked “heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains” after the donated bodies had been used for teaching and research. Under agreements between donors and Harvard, those bodies were supposed to be cremated or returned to their families.

According to the federal indictment, Cedric Lodge transported the stolen remains from Harvard Medical School in Boston to his home in New Hampshire, where he stored and sold them. Prosecutors said Denise Lodge assisted in the scheme by communicating with buyers, accepting payments, and arranging shipments of the stolen remains. Payments were often made online through her PayPal account.

The remains were sold to Katrina MacLean, Joshua Taylor, and others, prosecutors said. MacLean allegedly resold the remains to buyers across the country, including through her curiosities store, and Taylor has been accused of purchasing body parts from Lodge for resale. Lodge also allowed MacLean, Taylor, and others to enter the morgue to select which remains they wished to buy, according to the indictment.

To Thieve Or Not To Thieve

 

It's Crunch Time For Europe Which Decides Whether To Confiscate Russian Assets

By Elwin de Groot and Bas van Geffen, strategists at Rabobank

Is today crunch-time for the EU? That is the billion dollar question. European leaders are meeting in Brussels for a two‑day European Council summit. Their agenda covers a range of topics, including a ‘strategic debate’ on the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028-2034, EU enlargement, migration, the Mercosur deal that risks being delayed (or cancelled?) again, preparation of the European defence roadmap, and geo-economic strategy through a review of competitiveness.

These are all important topics. But without a doubt, the question of funding Ukraine is the toughest nut to crack. Europe remains committed to this support, as Russia’s Putin showed little willingness to compromise in his speech yesterday: He said that Russia will not back down from its mission to “liberate its historic lands” and that the “European swine” backing Ukraine would ultimately lose power.

The EU’s goal is still to grant a €90-140  billion loan to Ukraine to support its economy and military through 2026–27, backed by frozen assets from the Russian central bank that are held mostly in Euroclear (Belgium). But Belgium has stressed legal and financial liabilities concerns. The country has proposed a joint-EU loan instead. 

"We want to finance the war for much longer to end it as quickly as possible" https://t.co/Vdy69Tfnyj pic.twitter.com/R6826XwP30

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 18, 2025

As a first step towards using the frozen assets, the EU decided last week –by qualified majority– to replace the six-month renewal cycle with and open-ended freeze of those assets. This provision ensures the funds cannot be reclaimed by Russia due to vetoes from Hungary or Slovakia.

But the next step proves to be more difficult. The White House has been dialing up pressure on EU governments to block the plan, arguing that tapping these assets might prolong the war and reduce the chance of reaching a peace agreement. Indeed, US diplomats have warned that Russian lawsuits, such as the one already filed against Euroclear, could trigger repayment obligations, potentially to the US.

In any case, German Chancellor Merz has now thrown his full weight in this discussion, backing the frozen assets plan and trying to force a decision. Yesterday he told parliament that “It is about aid for Ukraine, but it is also about sending a clear signal to Russia that we will use the assets that are available here to help end this war as quickly as possible.”

That is perhaps Merz’ style. But he also may be emboldened by the fact that German lawmakers approved a record list of arms and military equipment purchases yesterday, worth around €50 billion, taking the total amount approved this year to nearly €83 billion. As those orders land on military equipment maker’s desks, this should provide a significant boost to German industry the coming year.

There have been quite some critical remarks on the effectiveness of the German spending plans, such as from the German Council of Economic Experts, but there can be little doubt that next year should see a significant fiscal impulse. And this is clearly a factor that has weighed on German Bunds in recent months, with the 10y yield –at 2.86% yesterday– within a whisker of this year’s high.

via zer0hedge

Silver Charts Are In From The Zoo

 

Silver: Record Overbought, Volatility at Extremes

by The Market Ear

Thursday, Dec 18, 2025 - 9:26

Parabolic

Silver trends have become steeper and stepper.

Source: LSEG Workspace

 

Divergence

Early negative RSI divergence is emerging, worth watching closely. The last time we saw similar RSI divergences was just ahead of the mid-October sell-off.

Source: LSEG Workspace

 

Again

Silver weekly RSI (86!) at record highs, right at mid October "panic" levels.

Source: LSEG Workspace

 

Impressive

Silver’s monthly RSI is at 88, record highs, at least based on our historical price data.

Source: LSEG Workspace

 

Extreme

Silver volatility is back at extreme levels. These are not sustainable, and any pause or downtick in the underlying is likely to trigger volatility reset as traders monetize upside calls, risking renewed pressure on spot.

Source: LSEG Workspace

 

You are fired

Good luck explaining to the boss why you missed one of the most spectacular silver squeezes, especially when your job is to trade silver. We’re still waiting for the full update on silver speculators, but the latest data (as of Dec 4) suggests they clearly missed the squeeze.

Source: LSEG Workspace

via zer0hedge

DMZ's Everywhere

 

Poland Ramps Up Program To Lay Anti-Personnel Mines On Eastern Border

European allies have long been talking about implementing a 'drone wall' or shield to protect eastern and northern Europe, but now this protective shield could include land mines on the ground, in a dangerous development.

"Poland has decided to start producing anti‑personnel mines for the first time since the Cold War and plans to deploy them along its eastern border and may export them to Ukraine, the deputy defense minister told Reuters," the publication reports Wednesday.

Getty Images

The same report underscores that all European nations bordering Russia have ramped up such measures: "Joining a broader regional shift that has seen almost all European countries bordering Russia, with the exception of Norway, announce plans to quit the global treaty banning such weapons, Poland wants to use anti-personnel mines to beef up its borders with Belarus and Russia," Reuters continues. Poland borders Russia's Kaliningrad exclave. 

Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski confirmed the new landmine strategy: "We are interested in large quantities as soon as possible," he said in reference to what's being broadly called the "East Shield" program being pursued by Europe.

Warsaw is meanwhile in the process of withdrawing from a landmark 1997 anti-landmine treaty known as the Ottawa Convention:

Poland began the process of withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention in August and had previously said it could start production of anti-personnel mines if needed, but that no formal decision had been taken. Zalewski's comments are the first confirmation from Warsaw that it will go ahead with the move.

Earlier this year Baltic states said they are also abandoning the land mine treaty, calling it "paramount" that they to give their troops "flexibility and freedom of choice" to defend NATO's eastern flank.

Prying Peasants

 

Four Days Later: Brown University Shooter Still At Large As Bizarre Anomalies Mount In Investigation

Anger mounts as the investigation into the Brown University shooting runs into ongoing hurdles: no identifiable suspect, a series of dead-end leads involving so-called persons of interest, and bizarre anomalies as the probe enters its fourth day.

The shooting at Brown occurred Saturday afternoon at the Barus and Holley Engineering Building. Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov were both killed. Importantly, Cook served as the vice president of the Ivy League school's College Republicans.

Following the shooting, there have been multiple dead-end leads involving so-called "persons of interest." Local police have released blurry footage of one individual, while one of the most heavily surveilled schools in the nation reportedly had no interior footage.

Incompetence from liberal elites?

To The Moon

Ah Silver

Over the last ~90 days silver has ripped higher from roughly the low-$40s per troy ounce to new record highs in the mid-to-high $60s — a move of roughly +50–60% across the three-month window and well over +100% year-to-date. TradingEconomics and recent Reuters coverage show spot silver topping the mid-$60s in December 2025, with multi-week gains accelerating in early December as the market re-rated the metal’s role. Trading Economics+1

A few tightly-connected drivers explain why prices are repeatedly breaking records. First, huge investor demand via silver ETFs and speculative momentum has poured into the market (ETF inflows have been historically large), amplifying price moves in a relatively small, less-liquid market. Second, structural supply constraints — ongoing production shortfalls and a multi-year projected deficit — mean fresh physical metal is not keeping pace with demand. Third, real economy demand is rising: silver is critical in solar panels, electric vehicles, and expanding electronics/data-center applications, raising industrial consumption just as monetary tailwinds (a softer dollar and growing expectations for Fed easing) increase precious-metal appeal. These themes are repeatedly mentioned in coverage by Reuters, Bloomberg/InvestmentNews, the Silver Institute summaries and market commentary. Reuters+2InvestmentNews+2

What this means going forward is a mixture of upside potential and elevated risk. The compressed gold/silver ratio, continued ETF accumulation, and sustained industrial adoption leave room for further price gains — analysts are even pointing at higher targets — but silver’s smaller market structure makes it prone to sharp reversals if inflows slow, supply responses accelerate, or macro shocks re-strengthen the dollar. Investors should expect continued volatility even as the secular structural story supports higher prices. For deeper reading and the specific latest price points I used as anchors, see Reuters, TradingEconomics, Forbes and Bloomberg summaries. Reuters+2Trading Economics+2

Rubicon Type Stuff

 

Euroclear: The Line Europe Can't Cross Without Breaking Global Trust

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

Euroclear and the Looming Breach of Trust

The alliance financing the war in Ukraine is facing a new problem. Seven members of the European Union want to block the expropriation of the Russian central bank assets held at Euroclear. This puts the continuation of war financing at risk. At the same time, the specter of a financial crisis looms—one that would once again leave taxpayers footing the bill.

The negotiation marathon between representatives of Ukraine, the EU and the United Kingdom, with a US delegation acting as mediator, continues in Berlin. As usual, it is accompanied by familiar phrases about “progress” on the road to peace and assurances that roughly 90 percent of the target has already been reached.

How much weight this interim result actually deserves will become clear in the coming days. Expect a frantic ramp-up of the propaganda machine, drones over airports (and over Wolfram Weimer’s residence), and growing pressure on US President Donald Trump. The militarily precarious situation of Ukraine’s armed forces is now colliding with an almost equally dramatic financial situation among Kyiv’s creditors.

Everything points to mounting pressure to cut the Gordian knot—sooner rather than later—as war costs on both sides threaten to spiral out of control.

This brings the latest developments in the debate over the expropriation of the Russian central bank and its assets parked at Euroclear back into sharp focus.

A Critical Demarcation Line

Euroclear could turn into a personal Waterloo for EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She is working at full throttle to convert the current crisis into a massive expansion of power for Brussels—and thus for her Commission.

Hungary, Slovakia and Belgium—already outspoken critics of expropriating Russian assets—are now joined by Italy, Bulgaria, Malta and Cyprus. Resistance to Brussels’ escalation push is growing by the day.

Notably, this resistance coincides with a clear shift in timing. Since the United States effectively withdrew from financing Ukraine, Europe’s financial reality has come into view without cosmetic filters. Without access to roughly €210 billion in Russian assets—about €25 billion of which are spread across various EU states—continued financing of this war of attrition appears barely feasible.

All major creditors—Germany, France and the United Kingdom—have long overstretched their budgets and are running new debt levels between four and six percent. The Ukraine project is on the brink of fiscal collapse.

The Illusion of Expropriation as a Lifeline

What is being attempted is as simple as it is dangerous. These assets—partly government bonds, partly matured bond holdings in foreign currencies—are to be used as collateral for further loans. Europe is already trapped in a debt spiral and is tapping every remaining source of funding. Even the enemy is no longer off-limits for the London-Brussels tandem.

Observers with a sensitivity for political phraseology and grandiosity understood as early as April 2022 what was unfolding: in a state of euphoric overconfidence, decision-makers catastrophically miscalculated and constructed a scenario in which a defeated Russia would be forced to pay for the entire war. This would have allowed Europe to neatly extract its own banks—deeply entangled in Ukraine’s financing—from the equation.

History offers a familiar pattern: bankers and p

Take The Money And Run?

 

The EU's New Policy Towards Russia's Seized Assets Isn't About Helping Ukraine

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

Russia condemned the EU’s recent decision to indefinitely immobilize its seized assets, the special procedure for which scandalously circumvented member states’ veto power in an effort to prevent Hungary and Slovakia from stopping them. This move might precede the bloc either confiscating some of these funds and giving them to Ukraine and/or using them as collateral for a loan to that country. The official purpose would be to fund more arms purchases and/or assist with post-conflict reconstruction.

The first goal won’t lead Ukraine inflicting the EU’s desired strategic defeat of Russia while the second requires much more than just Russia’s seized assets to complete.

Regardless of the official purpose, confiscating Russia’s assets or using them as collateral for a loan to Ukraine would inflict irreparable harm to the EU’s financial reputation.

Foreign investors might be spooked into fearing that their assets are no longer safe and could thus pull them from EU banks and not deposit future ones there either.

The bloc might therefore ultimately lose hundreds of billions of dollars, perhaps upwards of a trillion or even more with time, all ostensibly for Ukraine’s sake even though it’s impossible for that country to strategically defeat Russia or be reconstructed entirely with its foe’s stolen funds.

There are accordingly reasonable grounds for suspecting that the EU has ulterior motives in mind for seriously contemplating this and that its new policy towards Russia’s seized assets isn’t about helping Ukraine.

The real purpose might be to prevent the US from reaching a deal with Russia per point 14 of its leaked 28-point Russian-Ukrainian peace deal frame

Stimulant Manufacturers Love You

 

"Buy Nicotine, Energy Drink, Candy Stocks": Goldman Tells Clients Get Ready For Party In USA 

Bonnie Herzog, managing director and senior consumer analyst at Goldman Sachs, told clients Tuesday that, after consumer staples' underperformance in 2025, it is time to buy nicotine, energy drink, candy, and beauty stocks heading into 2026 as a stronger consumer backdrop emerges.

Herzog wrote:

Our View -- 2025 has been another year of underperformance by Consumer Staples with all but Nicotine stocks lagging the market as concerns around the health of the US consumer (owing to macro uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, tariffs, layoffs, etc.) which weighed on consumption trends and drove value-seeking behavior amongst consumers during the year.

Heading into 2026, we expect a more constructive US consumer backdrop (esp. middle-income cohorts) given a pickup in real income growth (aided by job growth, tax cuts, and fading tariff-related inflation) to support a discretionary over defensive approach, which will likely weigh on Staples' performance again next year. Irrespective of Staples' trajectory, we see an encouraging backdrop for stock picking in 2026. We continue to encourage investors to put new money to work in stocks with exposure to categories with attractive and profitable growth that should outpace broader Staples such as energy drinks, nicotine, candy, and beauty.

Herzog even noted that next year could be considered "the year of beer stocks":

Furthermore, we believe 2026 could be the year of beer stocks as we expect headwinds to abate and see a few tailwinds such as the lapping of easy comps, better weather (we hope), and increased consumption occasions given a trifecta of events next year including the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics, and the 250th anniversary of the US, which we believe should support greater beer consumption in the year.

Amid the growing specter of a "K-shaped" economy, core retail sales growth was strong in October. Whether that strength reflects inflation or real economic growth, the consumer is holding up in aggregate. With tailwinds expected to emerge in the economy early next year, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently outlined, Herzog's bullish call to buy nicotine, energy drink, candy, and beauty stocks appears to reflect that improving backdrop.

War And Fear Pay

 

Trump Weighs Limiting Defense Contractors' Shareholder Payouts, CEO Compensation

Major defense contractors like Boeing and Raytheon depend on government contracts for at least half the dollars they take in - and times have been 'good' particularly in the last several years of geopolitical hotspots and raging wars from Ukraine to Gaza.

Contractor CEOs have as expected really been raking it in as well, though some government accountability watchdogs have long complained that huge CEO compensation, also through ample bonuses, does nothing to advance the defense of the United States.

But alas, it remains that ultimately it's the taxpayers subsidizing these more-than-ample paychecks. This trend jumped significantly starting in 2022 into 2023 - which marked the first year of the Russia-Ukraine war, and Washington's policy of arming Kiev to the teeth.

Getty Images

One industry watchdog had this to say from that year: "The United States spent more last year on defense than the next 10 nations combined. A deal just brokered by the White House and House Republicans increases that amount even further — to $886 billion. Defense contractors will pocket about half of that."

"Just eight years ago, the national defense community made do with over $300 billion less. But making do with "less" doesn’t come easy to corporate titans like Dave Calhoun, the CEO at Boeing, the nation’s second-largest defense contractor," the report added.

According to a Tuesday report from Punchbowl News, the White House is drafting an executive order that would place restrictions on stock repurchases, dividend payments, and executive pay at defense contracting firms.

Among the leading firms are Lockheed Martin, RTX (Raytheon), Boeing, L3 Harris Technologies, as well as the familiar names Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.

The proposed order would apply to some of these largest companies which provide military equipment to the Pentagon, the report said, citing multiple sources.

"The executive order is the latest effort by the Trump administration to challenge the generational dominance of the defense prime contractors, the biggest beneficiaries of nearly $1 trillion in annual defense spending," Punchbowl writes. "But some worry that such an executive order could have a chilling effect on investments in the broader defense industrial base."

An unnamed industry official was quoted as saying, "The fear is the investors are going to leave the industry, the value of the companies is going to go down, and it’s going to be harder for them to get capital in the future" - and so "It’s not clear how they do this." However, so far the Trump admin has only said this is "speculation" when asked if an executive order is incoming.

Oh Shiny

 

Bidens Bookies?

 

"He'll Be Lucky To Have A Bookmobile": The Future Of Joe Biden's Presidential Library In Doubt As Donations Fail To Come In

Former President Joe Biden’s planned monument to his presidency is becoming a brutal reality check on his legacy. 

In September, the Biden camp announced plans to build his presidential library in Delaware - assembling a team of former aides, friends, and political allies to oversee the project, which is supposed to include a museum and archive.

A senior member of the Biden Foundation described the project to CBS News as a “vibrant and lasting space where history, learning, and civic leadership come together, inspiring future generations to lead with purpose, serve their communities, and strengthen our nation.” 

However, a recent New York Times report suggests Biden will likely have to scale back the project.

“Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has raised only a small fraction of the money needed to construct a presidential library,” the paper reported Saturday, “leaving uncertainty about when a library might be built and its viability as a stand-alone project, according to public filings and interviews with his donors.”

In filings with the Internal Revenue Service, Biden’s library foundation revealed that it had not received any new donations in 2024, the final year of his presidency. The foundation was instead seeded entirely with $4 million left over from his 2021 inauguration.

The library foundation declined to say what it had raised in 2025. It said that Mr. Biden was only now beginning to actively raise money. He is holding the first event for potential library donors on Monday in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood.

Still, Mr. Biden’s foundation told the I.R.S. this year that it expected to bring in just $11.3 million, total, by the end of 2027. That would be far below the pace set by other recent presidents, and far less than the $200 million that Mr. Biden’s aides say they want to raise eventually.

 As a result, Biden insiders say there’s talk of folding the potential Biden library into existing Biden-related projects at the University of Delaware. According to four anonymous sources, this could let the library ride on the millions the university—Biden’s own alma mater—has already raised for a “Biden Hall” project.

It appears that no matter what happens with the project, donations will be hard to come by. The New York Times reports that even some of Joe Biden’s most reliable donors say nobody has reached out to them about contributing to his presidential library. Others in the Democratic donor class sound even less enthusiastic, and say they plan to pour their resources into battling President Trump. Others admit that bitterness over Biden’s time in office has closed their wallets entirely.

“The Biden staff, they ruined any type of good library for him,” explained John Morgan, a longtime Democratic donor. “He’ll be lucky to have a bookmobile.”

Pesky Clintons

 

FBI Agents Thought Clinton's Uranium One Deal Might Be Criminal - But McCabe, Yates Stonewalled Investigation: Report

Remember Uranium One? The massive 2010 sale of US uranium deposits to Russia approved by Hillary Clinton and rubber-stamped by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) - after figures linked to the deal donated to the Clinton Foundation?

Turns out rank-and-file FBI investigators thought there was enough smoke to launch a criminal investigation, but internal delays and disagreements within the DOJ and FBI ultimately caused the inquiry to lapse, newly released records reveal. 

The materials, made public by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and first reported by Just the News, reveal that investigators argued internally over the delays - which allowed the statute-of-limitations to expire and ultimately halt the case.

The Uranium One transaction - involving the sale of a Canadian mining company with substantial U.S. uranium assets to Russia’s state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom - became a flashpoint during Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Critics argued that then-Secretary of State Clinton, a member of CFIUS, helped approve the deal while donors connected to Uranium One made large contributions to the Clinton Foundation.

The New York Times reported in 2015 that “as the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013 … a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.”

“And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. [Bill] Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock,” the Times reported. “At the time, both Rosatom and the United States government made promises intended to ease concerns about ceding control of the company’s assets to the Russians. Those promises have been repeatedly broken, records show.” -Just the News

Resistance from senior officials - including then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe - slowed the inquiry to the point where statute-of-limitations concerns were later cited to justify shutting it down.

Investigators disputed statute-of-limitations claims

Thanks to Grassley we now have a newly declassified FBI investigative timeline surround the deal, as agents in multiple field offices opened inquiries in early 2016 examining the Clinton Foundation’s intersection with the Uranium One deal. The Little Rock field office initiated a full field investigation, while New York and Washington opened preliminary investigations.

Not Your Fault?

 

Europe Is About To Commit Financial Self-Immolation & Its Leaders Know It

Authored by Gerry Nolan via The Ron Paul Institute

Italy’s decision to stand with Belgium against the confiscation of Russian sovereign assets is not a diplomatic footnote. It is a moment of clarity breaking through the fog of performative morality that has engulfed Brussels. Strip away the slogans and the truth is unavoidable: the seizure of Russian sovereign reserves will not change the course of the war in Ukraine by a single inch.

This is not about funding Ukraine, it is about whether sovereign property still exists in a Western financial system that has quietly replaced law with cult-like obedience. That is why panic has entered the room.

The European Commission wants to pretend this is a clever workaround, a one-off, an emergency measure wrapped in legal contortions and moral posturing masquerading as hysteria. But finance does not function on intentions, rage, or narratives. It functions on precedent, trust, and enforceability. And once that trust is broken, it does not return.

The modern global financial system rests on a single, unglamorous principle, that State assets held in foreign jurisdictions are legally immune from political confiscation.

via EU Commission 

That principle underwrites reserve currencies, correspondent banking, sovereign debt markets, and cross-border investment. It is why central banks like Russia’s (once) accepted euros instead of bullion shipped under armed guard. It is why settlement systems like Euroclear exist at all. Once that rule is broken, capital does not debate. It reprices risk instantly and it leaves.

Confiscation sends a message to every country outside the Western political orbit: your savings are safe only as long as you remain politically compliant.

That is not a rules-based order. It is a selectively enforced order whose rules change the moment compliance ends. What we have is a compliance cartel, enforcing law upward and punishment downward, depending on who obeys and who resists.

Belgium’s fear is not legalistic. It is actuarial. Hosting Euroclear means hosting systemic risk. If Russia or any future target successfully challenges the seizure, Belgium could be exposed to claims that dwarf the sums being discussed. Belgium is therefore right to be skeptical of Europe’s promise to underwrite such colossal risk, given the bloc’s now shattered credibility. No serious financial actor would treat such guarantees as reliable.

Italy’s hesitation is not ideological. It is mathematical. With one of Europe’s heaviest debt burdens, Rome understands what happens when markets begin questioning the neutrality of reserve currencies and custodians.

Neither country suddenly developed sympathy for Moscow. They simply did the arithmetic before the slogans.

Burn Bags?

 

Clinton Judge Orders Destruction Of Key Evidence In Case Against James Comey

A Clinton-appointed federal judge in Washington has stepped into the James Comey saga with an order that effectively tells the FBI to wipe a key evidentiary trail tied to the former director’s obstruction case, and to do it quickly. The move drops the Justice Department into a separation-of-powers storm at the same time it is trying to salvage its prosecution of the man who helped ignite the Trump-Russia hoax. 

Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted in September on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, stemming from his 2020 testimony about Operation Crossfire Hurricane. The indictment alleged that Comey lied when he denied authorizing anyone at the FBI to act as an anonymous source for media reports damaging to Donald Trump, and that he used Columbia Law Professor Daniel Richman as an outside conduit to leak material while Richman simultaneously worked as a government contractor. Emails between the two are critical to the case against Comey. 

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, a Bill Clinton appointee, dismissed the indictments against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James last month, ruling that the appointment of Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, who pursued the charges, was unconstitutional, and thus the indictments were invalid. 

Six years ago, a warrant approved by Judge James Boasberg allowed the FBI to seize Richman’s devices.

Today, another Clinton-appointed judge, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, has ordered the FBI to destroy the emails by 4 p.m. on Monday. According to Michael R. Davis, the founder and president of the Article III Project, the ruling “threatens the separation of powers essential to the Republic, and either the D.C. Circuit or Supreme Court must intervene immediately.

Richman, who is not charged in the case and has no standing as a defendant, filed a motion under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g) to reclaim those emails, arguing that the government violated his Fourth Amendment rights. Rule 41(g) typically allows individuals to ask a court to return property obtained in an unlawful search. 

Still, its use here departs from legal norms because Richman is not the target of the prosecution, and Comey himself lacks standing to challenge the warrant executed on Richman’s accounts. Judge Kollar-Kotelly granted the motion and, on December 13, ordered the Justice Department to return all data seized from Richman, concluding that prosecutors handled the material with “callous disregard” for Richman’s rights and had improperly used it to indict Comey. She directed that a copy of the emails be delivered to Biden-appointed Judge Michael Nachmanoff, who is presiding over the Comey case in the Eastern District of Virginia, but even with that copy preserved, the ruling bars the FBI and prosecutors from reviewing these emails as they pursue a new indictment.

“This salvation of a copy of the emails, however, does not lessen the impact of Kollar-Kotelly’s horrible ruling,” explains Davis.

“The FBI and the prosecution will be unable to review them in their efforts to seek a new indictment if Currie’s dismissal ruling survives on appeal.”

The statute-of-limitations law allows the government only six months after an indictment’s dismissal, suspended during the appellate process, to seek a new indictment. The inability to view this evidence would substantially increase the time necessary to seek an indictment. Even if a higher court reverses Currie, the government’s inability to review the emails to use as evidence and prepare for trial would massively hamper its case.