What did Obama know and when did he know it?

OK, I admit it.  I stole the photo from Drudge.  But it is pretty funny.  After Barack "you should never hide behind executive privilege" Obama asserted executive privilege against the House in its subpoena of Holder for Fast n Furious documents in the Justice Department, one has to wonder: why is Obama asserting a privilege over documents he has supposedly never even seen?

Did Elizabeth Warren commit a federal felony?

And Harvard, too, for that matter.  Legal Insurrection, a blog run by Prof. William Jacobson at Cornell Law School, brings up a very good point in his post entitled "It's Elizabeth Warren's and Harvard's federal filings, stupid."

We now know that starting in 1986 Warren filled out forms for a faculty law directory as “Native American“ putting her on a relatively short list of “Minority Law Teachers.”  Her explanation of why she did it, to meet others like her, didn’t hold up.

We now know (because Warren finally admitted it last night after The Boston Globe found more documents) that Warren told her prior employer, U. Penn. Law, that she was Native American and that Penn reported it that way for federal filings.

We now know that in its Spring 1993 issue (which would have been prepared substantially before that), during Warren’s 1992-1993 “visiting” year at Harvard, the Harvard Women’s Law Journal listed Warren on a relatively short list of Women of Color in Legal Academia.

We now know (again last night after The Globe found documents) that Warren was listed for the 1992-1993 academic year as Native American in Harvard Law federal filings.

We now know that all these federal filings were false.  There is no evidence that Elizabeth Warren is Native American, and substantial evidence she is not.

Making a false federal filing potentially was a crime.  18 U.S. Code § 1001 as it existed prior to 1996 revisions provided:

“Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact, or makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations, or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”

The statute since 1996 has provided:

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully–
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact;
(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry;
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both. If the matter relates to an offense under chapter 109A, 109B, 110, or 117, or section 1591, then the term of imprisonment imposed under this section shall be not more than 8 years.

So Elizabeth Warren and Harvard, what did you know and when did you know it?  If you made a false federal filing, you may have committed a federal felony.  How about the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts starts a real investigation that the two potentially guilty parties cannot stonewall.

Crime in America has really gotten out of hand

A tractor trailer full of Corona beer was stolen, just in time for Cinco de Mayo, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  I mean, I can only take so much about the downward spiral of the moral fabric in our society.  Of course, all they need to do to catch the culprits is to keep watch for the next heist, this time of a thousand pounds of limes.

How do you steal a bridge?

I don't know either, but some Czech thieves managed to do it.  A ten ton rail road bridge, to be exact.

Think Big

When committing a financial crime, it is a good idea to try to go unnoticed or to go big.  One example of going big would be Bernie Madoff.  A second example would be the guys in Potenza Italy who were caught with $6 Trillion Dollars in fake US Treasury Bonds.  That amounts to more than a third of the entire US National Debt.  A third example would be the recent budget submitted by the Obama Administration.