The Tale Of Black Lives Matter: Maureen Taylor, Jenna Urbauer, NAACP, Temple Beth El, Turkia Mullin, Human Abedine & Detroit Land Bank Authority Propaganda Coverup Ops

The Black Lives Matter movement is currently being infiltrated by the real voices of all people.

Maureen Taylor has been calling out stealin' for as long as there have been victims of stealin' - "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth).

This is about to get real because what has been taught in the schools and Hollywood about civil rights history and this thing called race is nothing but a noble lie.

On 11th night Detroit protest march goes to Algiers motel incident site from 1967 rebellion

The protest goes to the site of the 1967 rebellion, where one can only hope that young, out of town, protesters, will finally have an awakening to learn, what they have learned, is all a farce.

Speaking of farces...



The money from Jenna Urbauer, owner of Mandell Display Designs, is going to her favorite fake ass charity, the NAACP, because it looks like she had the privilege of acquiring one of those historic, stolen legacies, of a Detroit Land Bank Authority property, during the Great Gerrymandering of Detroit.

How quaint.

I wonder if any of the money is going to Temple Beth El?

We could ask Nancy Edmunds, but I do not believe she would be amenable to an interview, right about now.

Too bad Ann Marie LeFlamme is no longer with WXYZ, because she could have interviewed Jenna, too!

If Jenna and the Wendal "Swindle" Anthony wanted to do something about those who hail of the darker persuasion getting justice, I guess they could rally for a bit of that posthumous due process, but, hey, what do I know?

I know that we could ask Jeannie Rhee, but something tells me Mueller already has.

But, instead, I decided to find out who this Padriac Mullin was, considering the fact that his name was all on Jenna's Mandell Display Designs property address filed with LARA, now removed, as the property taxpayer of Wayne County, where, I just so happen to have found not one, but two, parcel numbers.

01 02003507. 18925 FAIRFIELD DETROIT MULLIN, PADRAIC
01 27190160. 18925 FAIRFIELD DETROIT MULLIN, PADRAIC
https://pta.waynecounty.com/Home/SearchResult

Mullin?

Is Padraic the brother of Turkia Mullin, who was kicking it hard with Bob Ficano while she was running the EB-5 program I could get absolutely no information about?

Hillary really wanted control of the airports, you know.

Did Turkia and Padriac go to high school with Huma Abedine, whose brother seems to be involve with those property tax scams and other stuff I found in the Dearborns, Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck?

But, hey, what do I know?

The only thing I know is Maureen Taylor is an original source and the world should listen to her, as the Black Lives Matter Movement is about to be uncloaked, for the truth to finally be revealed.

#maytheheavensfall

Maureen Taylor: Champion of the poor, disenfranchised

 Maureen has been bleachbitted from the annals of cyber annals of history, but I preserved her legacy.

Maureen Taylor has spent her life advocating and fighting for the rights of the poor. Her passion put her in the national spotlight when she took on WDIV-TV reporter Hank Winchester during an MSNBC interview about the Detroit water shutoff crisis. Many saw her actions as heroic.

“It was true Maureen,” said local activist and community organizer Mike Shane of Moratorium Now! a grass-roots organization working to prevent mortgage foreclosures and utility shutoffs. “(The news segment and Taylor’s comments) gave the issue more prominence, which it needed.”

Shane said the interview illustrated Taylor’s determination and willingness to “go to the mat for poor and working people. She’s a good advocate for people.”

As state chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Taylor works nonstop from her office on the fourth floor of downtown Detroit’s Central United Methodist Church to help struggling individuals and families negotiate with Metro Detroit agencies. Many of those she helps are people who are working mainly in low-paying jobs that don’t cover most of their basic bills.

The state chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and a 2015 Michiganian of the Year, Maureen Taylor talks about what inspired her to become a "change agent."

For 30 years, Taylor has been a voice for the voiceless. She began her career on the front lines of protest marches and rallies to protect welfare benefits for residents during Gov. John Engler’s administration. Most recently she led efforts to prevent the state from tossing 41,000 people off the state’s welfare rolls, and last year she conducted protests over the water shutoffs in Detroit.

Taylor, who attributes many of the city’s problems to a sluggish economy that is starting to rebound, said she always wanted to be a “change agent.”

“I need to be able to make a change,” said Taylor. “I have to do something.”

Her passion for the poor began at a young age. Reared in an economically comfortable home in Detroit, a 12-year-old Taylor was struck by the abject poverty she saw during a cross-country trip with her family to Disneyland in California. Young children, most of whom were under the age of 10, were selling turquoise on the side of the road or picking vegetables.

“This question about social justice meant something to me. I thought ‘there’s something wrong,’ ” Taylor said. “I knew it and I saw it.”

A trained social worker with a master’s degree in social work, Taylor also studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

“At the Union Theological Seminary, the coursework was around the fundamental components of why poverty exists. It stressed the relationship between welfare assistance and employment as a bridge between the two contradictory yet dependent polls,” she said. “I learned the history of poverty, the theory of ‘surplus value’ as a component of the existing system, and what role it played in the structure of the American economy. I am a poverty scholar.”

Taylor has been praised for working with corporations, such as DTE, to implement programs to assist the area’s poor. As a result, DTE now provides a representative at Taylor’s office to help individuals and families come up with more affordable utility payments to avoid shutoffs.

Rodney Cole, DTE’s manager of regional relations for Wayne County, said Taylor has been instrumental in helping the utility company assist customers in need.

“She has the history and context with this city,” Cole said. “I have appreciated her ability and willingness to partner (with DTE ).”

Taylor says she doesn’t let those who show up at the Michigan Welfare Rights office leave without some solution to their problems.

“I try to find ways (to help),” Taylor said. “Clients don’t leave here or my desk until there is a plan to alleviate whatever is wrong.”

Oralandar Brand-Williams

Maureen Taylor

Occupation: State chair, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Marygrove College; master’s degree, Wayne State University

Family: One son

Why honored: She is the first recipient of the Angelo B. Henderson Community Commitment Award for being a frontline advocate for economically challenged individuals and families.

I still say BLM was co-opted from Bureau of Land Management.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Will Buzzfeed Publish The Notes Of Jeannie Rhee - The Mueller Report Working Papers

The DOJ is executing a selective, slow, distractive release of the Mueller notes to Buzzfeed.

Why, you may ask?

Well, Buzzfeed, particularly Jason Leopold, has a few questions which need to be answered regarding the funeral of Monday.

I am waiting for Jeannie Rhee and her notes.

What if all those documents were unsealed after the grand jury votes to indict, a key component of due process, you know?

#perkinscoiesucks

Buzzfeed publishes 'The Mueller Report’s Secret Memos'

BuzzFeed News published the first tranche of FBI documents related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the 2016 election and Russian efforts to aid Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Many of roughly 500 pages of documents – in a package BuzzFeed called “The Mueller Report’s Secret Memos” – relate to interviews with FBI agents. Various email correspondence is also included.

BuzzFeed and CNN sued for access to Mueller’s witness interview notes. In October, a judge ordered the Justice Department to release new tranches of the notes monthly to the two news organizations.

BuzzFeed News published the first tranche of FBI documents related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the 2016 election and Russian efforts to aid Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

The documents are heavily redacted and feature some of the headline names from the two-year Mueller investigation, including Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, both of whom are currently serving federal prison sentences.

More: Mueller documents: Manafort pushed Ukraine hack theory

In one document, former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon refers to Manafort in an Nov. 5, 2016, email to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, days before the presidential election and months after Manafort supposedly parted ways with the campaign.

“We need to avoid this guy like the plague,” Bannon wrote to Kushner. “They are going to try and say the Russians worked with WikiLeaks to give this victory to us. Paul is a nice guy but can’t let word get out he is advising us.”

Manafort had started the email string on the subject of “Securing the Victory,” telling Kushner that he was “really feeling good about our prospects.” Fox News host Sean Hannity was also mentioned in Manafort’s note and in other documents.

Russia, if You’re Listening
Another revelation from the cache was a reflection made to the FBI by Rick Gates, Trump’s former deputy campaign chair, about then-candidate Trump’s infamous comment about Russia in July 2016.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said, referring to Hillary Clinton’s deleted messages.

The remark was an ad lib, Gates contended. The same document showed Gates remembering staff conversations that “someone out there” must have the missing Clinton emails.

Gates also said Manafort had offered the theory that Ukraine, not Russia. was behind a June 2016 hack on the Democratic National Committee computers. That idea, which has been discredited by U.S. intelligence agencies, is still pushed by Trump and others, and has become central to the current Democratic impeachment inquiry into the president.

For what country?
In another document posted by BuzzFeed, drawn from the summary of Bannon’s interview with the FBI, the former Goldman Sachs investment banker recalled having first met Trump in 2010. Conservative activist David Bossie, president of Citizens United, was also present, and said that Trump was thinking of running for president in 2012. According to the recap, Bannon asked, “for what country?”

After making requests through the Freedom of Information Act, BuzzFeed and CNN sued the U.S. government for the right to see the primary-source information that Mueller’s team didn’t disclose when it published its 448-page report in March. Justice Department lawyers say the material could run to 18 billion pages.

The process of releasing all the documents monthly will probably take eight or more years.

Here's the full file:

DOCUMENT

PAGES

Zoom

«

Page 1 of  278

»

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/mueller-report-secret-memos-1

The Great Water Shutoff Debacle - The Accidental Legal Geniuses LARP

Guess what time I was on the phone.

Egads!

The Great Detroit Water Shutoff Debacle continues.

It seems I have created LARP, but not intentionally, though.

I was just extremely upset that the Detroit Water and Sewer Department had me pay, then shutoff my account the next day, then took my name off my account, with no access, refers me to Water Residential Assistance Program (which does not assist in the sewage portion, which is the largest component of the bill due to all the bonds and stealin') to inform me that I had to open an account, because there was no account, to eventually be met Saturday morning, the National Day Against Violence, by a young gentleman who was attempting to shutoff my water.

Then, due to technical difficulties, and a few questions, I found out that he was called out on a Saturday, when nothing is open, mind you, to terminate illegal water usage.

Yes, my water shutoff, I guess the physical water shutoff, was, I shall assume as I have yet to request a formal investigation, triggered me.

So, these people can just, up and shutoff water, know fully well they are on the international stage for water shutoffs, through their fraud division.

Oh my, that sounds like a Bill Browder move.

Well, going down to the main office early Monday morning, I was informed of an IT account billing system update, then everything made perfect sense to me.

The systemsucks!

The supervisor was very nice to waive the reconnection fee, after I had to vehemently argue with her that my water was never shutoff, even though it showed in the system that it was shutoff.

So, you know the water accounts are meshed with just about every other city, county, state and federal database, through Microsoft, which has highjacked my computer with the Vietnamese version that I cannot remove.

This means I know I have one of those endogenous variables in their predictive modeling crappy models as being labeled as engaging in utility theft, an illegal hook up.

Do I have due process to correct this matter of a public smear of character?

Was this an intentional hack?

When your water is shutoff, your property is condemned by the city, foreclosure procedures will commence, you will be determined in a court of law as being homeless, which means you are stripped of your right to vote, if they can time it properly.

Anyway, I suffered a Post Traumatic Fraud Disorder attack and sent emails to the attorneys who represented the defendants in my qui tam.

I am not going to lose my house and I will not tolerate retaliation with their petards.

It was not difficult to figure out what retaliation as a federal witness looks like because it has become a part of my daily life.

I also reached out to my City Councilman.

Rod Liggons was a bit too enthusiastic and took it upon himself to respond to an email sent to legal counsel of the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

I was nice and kindly informed him to refer all future communications to his legal counsel.

I guess Michael Brady has yet to be replaced.

Such a shame Jeannie Rhee could not continue her representation.

Well, within 24 hours, it seems I must have flustered a few "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) because the courtroom chatter is that they are starting to figure out who the Celestial Goddess of the Woodshed truly is, and that is the original source.

FUN FACT! THE DETROIT WATER AND SEWER DIRECTOR GARY BROWN DOES NOT POSSESS A MICHIGAN S1 LICENSE.

Now, we wait to see if they are going to finally stop stealin'.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Cocktails & Popcorn: Jeannie Rhee's Got A New Job

Jeannie's got a new job.

Jeannie should thank me by offering the services of her new employer, pro bono, as I still hail from the land of "The Poors", to stop her former clients from shutting off my water.

I got the police report already, if that helps.

Tell Loretta I send my love.

Call me, girl.  I know you still have my number in PACER.

#perkinscoiesucks

Jeannie Rhee, Mueller Prosecutor and Ex-Wilmer Partner, Joins Paul Weiss

Rhee is the latest big name to land at Paul Weiss in recent months. In an interview, Rhee said she is "eager to go back to representing clients. It's something that I've done for a really long time."

Jeannie Rhee, former defense counsel for the
Detroit Land Bank Authority

Jeannie Rhee, a leading prosecutor who served for two years on Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s investigation team, is joining Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner in the firm’s white-collar litigation practice in Washington.

Rhee had been one of three Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partners to join Mueller’s team in May 2017. Mueller had been a partner at the firm before his appointment as special counsel overseeing more than a dozen lawyers investigating the ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia and the president’s purported efforts to obstruct the inquiry.

“We are delighted to welcome Jeannie, who brings unrivaled experience as one of the nation’s leading white-collar and regulatory defense lawyers and as a first-chair trial lawyer,” Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp said in a statement. “Jeannie’s years of government service—as a senior Justice Department prosecutor, a member of the Mueller investigative team and an advisor to the U.S. Attorney General and to the White House—will be an invaluable asset to our clients.”

Rhee joined Mueller’s team with then-Wilmer partners James Quarles and Aaron Zebley. Robert Novick, co-chairman of Wilmer, recently called Mueller, Quarles, Rhee and Zebley “highly valued partners and friends.” He added: “If they’re interested in talking, we’re certainly going to talk to people.”

Representatives from Wilmer did not immediately comment Friday.

On Mueller’s team, Rhee was a top prosecutor in the case against three Russian firms and 13 individuals charged with carrying out an alleged campaign to sow discord within the U.S. electorate during the 2016 presidential election. Only one of the 16 defendants in that case, a Russian company called Concord Management and Consulting, has answered the charges in Washington’s federal trial court.

Rhee was a mainstay in court over the past two years as the special counsel’s case against Concord Management played out in front of U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich. The judge has issued several rulings that have kept the charges in place. The company, represented by Reed Smith partners Eric Dubelier and Katherine Seikaly, has pleaded not guilty.

In an interview, Rhee said she is “eager to go back to representing clients. It’s something that I’ve done for a really long time.” She added: “It was really the opportunity to be part of a dynamic office in Washington, D.C., that is nevertheless part of the large powerhouse that is Paul Weiss. It’s a terrific opportunity, and I couldn’t turn it down.”

Rhee reported receiving more than $3.5 million in partner compensation from Wilmer since 2016, according to federal ethics disclosures she filed in 2017 and in 2018. Rhee rejoined the firm in 2011 after a two-year stint at Main Justice, where she had been a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel. The Yale Law School graduate first joined Wilmer in 2006 from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

“As an Asian-American woman, I am often not expected to be a fierce litigator,” Rhee said in a 2014 spotlight at The Diversity Journal. “It takes that extra effort on my part, when I meet with clients face-to-face, to have them see me in action to convey how my ethnicity, gender, stature, and the like do not at all prevent me from being a formidable advocate.”

Rhee is the latest high-profile partner hire at Paul Weiss.

Her arrival comes just weeks after former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch joined the firm as a partner in New York. In January, the heavyweight appellate lawyer Kannon Shanmugam left Williams & Connolly to become managing partner of Paul Weiss’ growing Washington office.

“I think my vision for the office is that I want Paul Weiss to be the best place to be a litigator in D.C.,” Shanmugam told The National Law Journal in a recent interview. “I really want this to be the best little law firm in Washington, that’s kind of how I think about it, and to have all of the benefits of a boutique-type practice within one of the world’s greatest law firms.”

Other former members of Mueller’s team are returning to law firms and other posts since the Russia investigation culminated in a 448-page report published in April. The investigation documented connections between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign, but prosecutors did not recommend criminal charges. Mueller’s team also showed what they believed were obstructive acts taken by Trump to thwart the investigation. The report said that while no charges were being recommended, Trump was not being exonerated.

Another prosecutor on Mueller’s team, Greg Andres, returned to Davis Polk & Wardwell earlier this year. Andres played a lead role in the prosecution of Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, on charges related to his lobbying work for Ukraine. Manafort is serving a prison sentence of more than seven years for charges brought in Washington and in Virginia.

Michael Dreeben, who joined the Mueller team from the Justice Department’s solicitor general’s office, has announced plans to retire from government service. Dreeben, formerly a deputy solicitor general and one of the department’s top criminal-law experts, has not said where he is going next. Dreeben has been a DOJ lawyer for some 30 years.

Andrew Weissmann, a former top fraud section prosecutor at Main Justice, has taken a post teaching at New York University School of Law. Weissmann, also formerly a Jenner & Block partner and general counsel to the FBI, is reportedly out with a book proposal, according to CNN. The book will recount Weissmann’s work on Mueller’s team, The New York Times reported Friday.

Mueller, meanwhile, has not announced his plans. He joined Wilmer in 2014 from the FBI, where he had served as director for more than a decade.

Report: Detroit Land Bank had $500,000 in legal costs for investigation of demolition program

The Detroit Land Bank Authority had more than $500,000 in legal expenses amid a federal investigation into the city's multimillion-dollar demolition program, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The newspaper said its analysis of legal invoices through April 8, obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, found the land bank paid the money to two firms to represent it, the city and the Detroit Building Authority. WilmerHale and Miller Canfield were paid $537,414 for legal representation since June 29, 2016, the report says.

The land bank defended the amount, saying: "the top priority is to make sure we comply fully with the investigation."

Detroit has received $258 million in federal funding since 2013 to target blight by tearing down vacant structures. The investigation has led to guilty pleas.

On Thursday, Mayor Mike Duggan said he would seek a $200 million bond to help Detroit continue demolitions and eliminate blight in five years.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

"The Girls" v. "The Boys": Engler Demands Subpoena, Nessel Ignores Trafficking Tiny Humans In Her AG Office, Get To Know Seth Wexman

In the spirit of fuchsia...

John Engler to AG's office: Unless you recuse yourself, I'm not doing interview with investigators

Former Michigan governor and former MSU
interim president John Engler, right, and Peter Secchia
sit courtside during the second half of the Michigan State,
Michigan basketball game on Saturday,
March 9, 2019, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. 

Former Michigan State University Interim President John Engler will not sit for an interview with investigators from the Michigan Attorney General's Office because he believes the office is biased against him.

Well, yeah, duh!

"What has become clear is the ethical standards and objectivity required for the conduct of an investigation are inapplicable to your approach to Mr. Engler," says a letter sent Wednesday by Engler attorney Seth Waxman of Dickinson Wright to the AG's office. The letter was sent to Michigan Assistant Attorney Christina Grossi, who has been running the case for Attorney General Dana Nessel. "You have prejudged Mr. Engler’s veracity and motives without ever talking to him. You have launched unfounded attacks and besmirched Mr. Engler. ...

"Your conduct diverges so drastically from the most basic principles of fairness, justice and what is right that you have undermined the integrity of your own investigation, which may be a result of your lack of experience handling criminal prosecutions (this being your first), let alone a high-profile criminal investigation. Your actions also form a claim of prosecutorial misconduct and constitute grounds for your immediate recusal from the investigation."

Nessel could not be reached immediately for comment.

Damn! Dems* fightin' words. (*pun intended).

Dana is supposed to be nice when it comes to due process, not bully pulpit proselytizing political partisanship. It is called due process, like starting with a letter, then a subpoena.  You must document the process.

More on freep.com:

AG Dana Nessel: John Engler dodges my investigators, but finds time for basketball games

Michigan Attorney General investigating Perles' resignation from MSU board

Engler's letter came one day after Nessel sent a letter to MSU Board Chairwoman Dianne Byrum claiming Engler was ducking her investigators and saying he wasn't able to meet with investigators in Michigan, despite attending home MSU basketball games.

Waxman's letter disputes that. Waxman says on March 4, the two sides finalized a meeting for March 28 in Washington, D.C., where Engler has worked in business leadership roles after serving as Michigan governor.

Well, if I were Dana, and I was in D.C. to meet with Engler, what I would do is to contact federal investigative authorities to see if I could possibly do a conjugal collaborative, but then again, I guess it would be awkward to work with those individuals if they were investigating me and "The Girls", but, hey, what do I know, I am not the State Attorney General.

"Nevertheless, based on no action or statement by Mr. Engler, you claim that he has a

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks during a press
briefing on her office's investigation into the Larry Nassar scandal
at Michigan State University on Feb. 21, 2019 

'brazen disregard' for the investigation and was not acting in 'good faith,' among other libelous statements," the letter from Waxman says. "Mr. Engler agreed to the interview, that interview date is nine days away, and there is nothing more a witness can do before meeting voluntarily and answering questions."

The letter claims the two sides had also agreed that Engler was not a target of the investigation.

That is because if she targets Engler, she is going to have to target all "The Girls".

Nessel, a Democrat, said in her Tuesday letter she was shocked to learn that Engler was sitting courtside with promiment MSU donor Peter Secchia during MSU's basketball game with the University of Michigan. She said her office had been told Engler, a Republican, wasn't going to be in Michigan.

Sometimes, plans change.

There could be a reason Engler doesn't want to be interviewed in Michigan, Nessel said in her letter.

"...  an individual who interviews in another state is subject to different laws and processes for purposes of the interview. For example, the laws in Washington, D.C., related to intentionally lying to a police officer in the course of an investigation are not as strong as in Michigan."

That is why Dana should do the conjugal collaborative, but she will not.  That would be self-incrimination. Messy.

Engler often in Michigan

Waxman's letter Wednesday disputed that.

Seth Wexman

"Your outrage about Mr. Engler’s travels is similarly surprising and misplaced. Since early February 2019, I have been communicating with you about making Mr. Engler available for a voluntary interview," Waxman's letter said. "At no time did I represent that Mr. Engler would not travel to Michigan as we discussed scheduling. Mr. Engler owns a home in Michigan. He has family in Michigan. It stands to reason that he would and does travel to Michigan when his schedule permits doing so.

"There has been no effort to hide that on two occasions Mr. Engler traveled to Michigan on weekends to see Michigan State University basketball games. Yet, you scurrilously allege that Mr. Engler somehow acted improperly by attending those events, as if he attended in disguise. He is not a criminal defendant. He is not under the supervision of a court. You penalize and criticize Mr. Engler for exercising his unrestricted right to travel and, as do hundreds of millions of Americans, enjoy college basketball games."

That is right.  There are no restrictions in travel for Engler in place.

Nessel's letter Tuesday said that "our offer to travel to Mr. Engler was contingent on Mr. Engler being unavailable to interview in the State of Michigan."

Engler was unavailable to interview.  He was busy at the MSU game...making plans....

"Finally, as if your false representations and strong-arming is not enough, you now threaten to use Mr. Engler’s lawful employment contract with Michigan State University against him.

".... what right does the Attorney General’s Office have to interject itself into and twist a contract between a private citizen and his employer into an illegitimate law enforcement tool? You not only appear to have acted beyond your authority, but also made yourself a witness to the broader investigation. That is a rare accomplishment for a prosecutor to subject herself to personal liability and become a witness."

Oh, SNAP! That was very eloquently stated. I like this cat. Seth used to be the U.S. Solicitor General. Seth works for WilmerHale, the same law firm Jeannie Rhee and Mueller hail. Seth did the SCOTUS Arizona Redistricting Law case that seems to question the people usurping the powers of the Legislature by stopping elected officials from privatizing.  This is a very interesting attorney client privilege situation to watch unfold.

Email exchange

The two sides have exchanged emails over the past months trying to schedule the interview, according to records obtained by the Free Press from a Freedom of Information Act request.

That included an email from Grossi to Waxman late Tuesday night saying if Engler wanted to voluntarily come in and interview in Michigan, he should contact the AG's office.

"Otherwise, there's no reason for you to contact me, certainly not to feign outrage or plead ignorance about the reason the interview was canceled," Grossi said in her email.

The two sides also disagreed about topics for the interview, with Waxman trying to get Grossi to confirm limited topics of conversation and questioning as suggested by an AG investigator and Grossi saying she wasn't going to agree to a script.

Hey, I have a few suggestions for a topic for the interview! Medicaid fraud in child welfare, the Children's Trust Fund and MEDC.  How about privatization of foster care and adoption, which brought in those Public Private Partnerships that funded you and "The Girls'" political campaigns for office...oups, j'ai dit une bétise!

The ongoing investigation has resulted in criminal charges against several MSU employees, including former MSU President Lou Anna Simon — whom Engler replaced. Simon is charged with lying to investigators.

Engler inherited the duties of office, and the breech of trust.  In order for Engler to bear witness to what happened at MSU, Nessel must also bear witness to what is still going on in the Michigan Office of Attorney General.

They shall eat each other alive, and I shall be intently watching.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Saskia Thompson Is LeadingThe Detroit Land Bank Authority Through A Federal Investigation

In the spirit of fuchsia....

Detroit Land Bank Authority Executive Director Saskia Thompson on leading through controversy

Saskia Thompson -on a personal note, showcasing the historic
beauty of what was ripped from the people in fraudulent tax
and mortgage schemes may not be the best image to roll with.

Saskia Thompson leads an organization everyone has an opinion about.

I do not have opinions. I have evidence.

She's the executive director of the Detroit Land Bank Authority, which owns about 27,000 Detroit structures — mostly residential properties. The public agency sells properties at auction and on the traditional real estate market and has demolished more than 10,000 structures since Mayor Mike Duggan took office in 2014.

How is the Detroit Land Bank Authority a public agency when you write the checks out to the Corporate Shape Shifter Title Source? Normally, in government, or an incorporated entity, you write the check out to the City of Detroit, and not use a FEIN of a 501c3 Detroit Land Bank Community Development Corporation.

Thompson came to the DLBA in 2017, amid a federal investigation into the agency that had begun a year earlier into its demolition program, which is funded in part by federal dollars. The agency has faced scrutiny for its evaluation of demolition bids, its billing of federal dollars and how its contractors have handled hazardous materials abatement and fill dirt. The investigation is ongoing.

The lead "public agency" is called SIGTARP, of the U.S. Treasury. I still want to know how you contracted for demolition when you are not the City of Detroit.  How were the checks cashed?

Thompson has brought nearly 20 years of experience in municipal government to bear in righting the ship. She worked for Mayor Dennis Archer's administration as an assistant for public policy projects from 2000-2001. After that, Thompson worked for the city of Charlotte, N.C. for about nine years before moving to Philadelphia, Pa. for a position as the city's deputy finance director and executive director of the office of property data. She left Philadelphia to join the DLBA, where she leads the agency's staff of 150.

She should have stayed in North Carolina.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

How did your upbringing influence your career?

My mother is a lawyer and spent her career working in downtown Detroit fighting for pension, Social Security and workers' compensation issues. She later focused on employment discrimination. My father is a professor and does a lot of economic work. He was a union organizer for a long time. It wouldn't fly if I told them that I was going to work for corporate America helping other people make money. The overarching mantra in my family growing up was, whatever you do, you have to give back in some way.

Detroit shaped me as much as my family did. I went to Detroit Public Schools (Thompson graduated from Cass Technical High School) and took Detroit transportation. When people say there's two Detroits and people are left out of this new generation, I don't debunk that. Downtown today doesn't look like how it did when I previously worked here. However, we can still make this a city that everyone can participate in.

We as Detroiters get to pick what we are going to be going forward and I think because I'm from here, I understand that.

Why did you move back to Detroit? How have you seen the city change?

When I worked for Dennis Archer there were a lot of exciting things going on in Detroit in the late '90s and early 2000s. We were building Campus Martius, General Motors was moving into the Renaissance Center and the Super Bowl was going to be held in Detroit. I worked on a lot of exciting projects — including making the Renaissance Center streetscape accessible for pedestrians and many big projects that had the potential to be game-changers. You had hope and felt like a lot of positive things were going on.

When I moved away from Detroit in 2002, Detroit was struggling with a shrinking economy. My frame of reference at the time was so specific to Detroit that it was hard to see how other cities were struggling with problems. I remember doing police ride-alongs when I was working in Charlotte and wondering where all the bad neighborhoods were.

I don't feel like I actively decided to move back to Detroit. I wasn't really ready to leave Philadelphia, because my daughter was about to be a senior in high school and I was not looking to uproot her.

However, the more I looked at this job, I decided it was the right move for me. I came to the conclusion that being at the land bank at this point in time was a unique opportunity and that I was uniquely qualified to be the person who took over. I am a Detroiter and I understand the factors of how we got here and what that actually means to people.

What do you feel are some common misconceptions about the Detroit Land Bank?

People automatically assume that if there's a blighted property in Detroit we own it. That was the image promoted. We own a quarter of the real estate in Detroit, but we don't own everything, so we're not in control of all of the factors in the neighborhoods that would make things better for folks. The city has a tremendous number of challenges, but none of them are new. We own properties that have been in public ownership for decades, or in some cases did not sell for $500 at county auctions. We own property that somebody thought had no value at all, and our job is to create value out of that and to remind people that there is value in this city. We still want to know who owns the land because I found a land patent.

The misconception that frustrates me the most is that we're mismanaging demolition. With all the negative press the land bank received about demolition, there was no focus on all the other positive work the land bank was and still is doing. Even when I was doing my due diligence about coming here, people would say, "You don't want to take over the land bank. Everybody there is terrible and you've got to clean house." When I got here I learned that's clearly not true. This organization is full of smart, talented, dedicated people who are committed to making positive changes.  The DLBA is full of "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) and I wonder if this is the reason for this job posting for general counsel. They are going to need really good inhouse counsel considering the fact that they are not part of the City of Detroit, with no access to its Corporate Counsel, unless Larry Garcia is monitoring the contracts with them as a "public agency".

General CounselDetroit Land Bank AuthorityDetroit, MI Full Time
GENERAL JOB SUMMARY
General Counsel is the Detroit Land Bank Authority’s (DLBA) Chief Attorney.  As such, he/she is responsible for overseeing and identifying the legal issues in all departments and their interrelation, as well as business policy.  They will also oversee the entire legal team.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Provide legal opinions and counsel, and serve as a trusted advisor to the Board, Executive Director and Executive level staff
Keep abreast of DLBA’s legal context and advises and educates the Board, and executive team with regard to changes and trends that could affect their ability to advance their programs. These might be related to FOIA requests, real estate laws, land banking laws, etc.
Oversee the DLBA’s legal team
Provide advice to the Executive Director as to the selection and retention of external counsel; and manage the organization’s relationship with external counsel
Coordinate legal and policy reform efforts, including legislative drafting, analysis, testimony, and advocacy
Develop and maintain the legal and contractual infrastructure required of a Michigan public authority including organizational policy, document retention, filing and registration requirements, labor and immigration law, contracts, leases, and agreements
Develop, implement and maintain systems and processes for the documentation and tracking of legal matters, including, for example, filings and registrations, legal threats, business agreements, and the like
Act as a spokesperson and advocate for DLBA’s legal positions as requested by the Executive Director or the Public Affairs team
Meet regularly with all DLBA staff and program leaders to ensure information shared with partners and residents is accurate and timely
Strategize, renegotiate and conclude contracts with vendors, etc. as they arise; and provide effective support of other managers of the organization in their negotiations
Serve as one of the organization’s key contacts and negotiators with government agencies
Ensure a timely response to all legal claims and legal inquires directed to DLBA
Review and approve all legal documents
Assist in developing the values and unique strengths of the DLBA, which is highly transparent, collaborative and community-centric
Communicate regularly with Executive Director regarding status of special projects
Perform additional duties as assigned in Board resolutions and as directed by the Executive Director
QUALIFICATIONS (Knowledge, Experience, Skills and Abilities)
Juris Doctorate from an American Bar Association-accredited law school
Member in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan
At least six (6) years of related legal experience
Knowledge of land banking, tax foreclosure, municipal, and real estate law
Experience with legal issues for non-profit organizations and employment law is appreciated
Excellent time management skills and ability to multi-task
Ability to work well in a fast paced and demanding environment
Detroit residency, preferred
Management experience, particularly supervising/managing legal work of others
Ability to become a trusted advisor who will be viewed as a strong resource with discretion in keeping sensitive material confidential; a hard worker with a high energy level; a strong manager and administrator with a high sense of personal responsibility and integrity
Ability to think analytically and write clearly
Must have a general orientation towards building appropriate processes and structures
Must be a mission-driven individual with a strong sense of public service to the residents of the City of Detroit
Most people think that demolition is most of our business, but it's not. Community members — those day-to-day people who are living in Detroit's neighborhoods — have every right to be frustrated, but they're not worried about our demolition programs. They're worried about the vacant houses on their block. If anything, they want us to be doing demolitions faster. There's been calls from people telling us that we shouldn't be doing any demolition at all, but I guarantee that the people living in the neighborhoods where we made a real impact by tearing down some of these vacant homes feel differently about that. When we demolish a house we are eliminating a noticeable blight on the neighborhood, as vacant houses attract all sorts of crime.

I wonder what happened with the DLBA solicitors over there at WilmerHale?  Oh, wait, Jeannie Rhee and Bob Mueller are busy, busy, busy with Grampa Corsi and the Ham Sandwiches.  On the other hand, it is much more economical to hire inhouse counsel.  I wonder what Michael Brady is up to. 

How did you work to change that narrative?

When I first got here, I felt strongly that we needed to be in the community more than we were. I changed the name of the public affairs department to the community affairs department. That may seem like a small thing, but I wanted us to be in the neighborhoods talking to people and making our programs accessible to them, not requiring people to come downtown to talk to us. Our community affairs staff now holds office hours in every district in the city. I felt that we couldn't change the negative perception to the media until we are actually talking to the people who are living, breathing and benefiting from our programs every day, and the positive stories will follow. Now, almost 18 months later, I still think that was right decision. We still get a ton of phone calls every month, but not every call is negative. People are asking, "How can I buy this home? How can I tap into this program?"

What's the biggest challenge you've had to overcome in your role?

It is hard to manage an organization that everybody has an opinion about via right or wrong. I'm constantly fighting the notion that the land bank does X, Y and Z, and then I have to cut through that myth and say, "I'm sorry that you had this negative experience, but let me help you in the here and now. Let's do this differently." When you are in the media and the news reports so much about one thing and it detracts from everything else — I think the biggest obstacle is overcoming that.

What do you wish people were focusing on?

I am most proud of the fact that every time we manage to sell a house, the buyer is required to fix the condition of their home. It's a condition of the sale. You can't buy a house from the land bank and sit on it with no investment. We are always working toward moving through our inventory as quickly as we can. The goal is to get those houses out of the land bank's inventory and into the hands of the individuals who are going to renovate them and live in them.

Have you fixed the issues with the titles, yet? Make sure to let MIED know when you do.

The best thing the land bank does is require renovation, which creates a whole host of spin-off activities and investment in the city. Every time we successfully sell a house and somebody renovates it, that's another individual or family of people who are living here, shopping here, working here and bringing back that sense of community that we've lost in a lot of places because so many homes were abandoned for so long. We've had noticeable change in four years and I think that folks that work at land bank should be proud of that.

That noticeable change is called gerrymandering.

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Merry Christmas To The Office Of Special Counsel, Bob Mueller, Jeannie Rhee & Nolan Finley

"Look what I can do, Nolan!"

As we approach the joyous merriment of this winter holiday, I would like to give a very special, sacrificial offering in a Detroit, Michigan promulgation of propaganda, by the one and only Nolan Finley, to the Office of Special Counsel, Bob Mueller & Jeannie Rhee.

"See Nolan spin."

"Spin, Nolan, spin".

"Nolan likes to hide."

"Hide, Nolan hide."

Finley and Jacques: Snyder leaves behind a better Michigan

Michigan never warmed to Rick Snyder the way it should have. The Republican governor took over an economic wasteland and, through innovative, growth-focused leadership, made it one of America's great comeback stories.

He saved the state's largest city from sure ruin, lifted Michigan from the bottom of every business climate ranking and set a course for a fiscally sound future.

And yet Snyder will leave office with an approval rating lower than that of President Donald Trump, who couldn't be further away from the governor in either style or substance.

An easy answer to why Snyder isn't more celebrated is Flint. And certainly the water contamination crisis there called into question the governor's decision making, as well as his empathy. Coming as it did at the beginning of the 2016 presidential campaign, Snyder became an easy whipping boy for every Democratic politician, liberal activist and Hollywood know-it-all.

But even before Flint, Snyder struggled to keep his popularity numbers above water. Remember that in 2014, with Michigan's economy rebounding and Detroit's turnaround assured, Snyder won reelection by just a 4 percentage point margin against a poorly financed and unfocused opponent.

Snyder came to office via a coalition of Republicans, Independents and business-minded Democrats. In doing so, he became the first governor to move from the business world into the statehouse with no political stops in between since George Romney in 1962.

Democrats seemed to expect him to govern as a progressive, and turned away from Snyder when he signed many of the conservative bills generated by the Republican-led Legislature.

Republicans, by contrast, turned on him for not being conservative enough. Unlike most past governors, Snyder never became the head of his party, leaving the political games to those who better enjoyed them. Republican politicians talk about Snyder in language normally reserved for Democrats.

Yet in the business world, Snyder remains a hero because he delivered exactly what he promised: relentless, positive action to improve the competitiveness of Michigan. Consider the numbers:

• As of October, Michigan hit its lowest unemployment rate since 2000. The 3.9 percent rate is the result of a growing economy and the addition of 560,000 private sector jobs in the past eight years. 
• In June, Snyder signed the 2019 budget, marking eight years in a row the state budget has reached a balanced spending plan months ahead of deadline. 
• The state's rainy-day fund has grown to more than $1 billion from just $2 million in 2011.
• Snyder has steadily tackled long-term debt, reducing it by more than $20 billion. By around 2038, he estimates the billions in unfunded liabilities in the state's teacher pension system should be gone -- assuming a continued commitment to paying down these obligations. 
• In 2011, Snyder spearheaded the effort to get rid of the Michigan Business Tax, which was replaced with a corporate income tax that encourages job creation and investment. 

And then there's Detroit. Without Rick Snyder, there would be no Motor City comeback.

The governor brilliantly directed the city -- kicking and screaming, by the way -- first through emergency management and then a bankruptcy crafted by him not just to settle a horrendous debt, but to give Detroiters a fighting chance to rebuild.

Those who blame the Snyder-ordered emergency management of Flint for nearly ruining that city, must also recognize emergency management saved Detroit.

We visited Snyder in the darkest hours of the Flint crisis, when calls for his resignation were ringing through the Capitol. His name was fast becoming synonymous with heartless Republicanism, and his family was being shouted out of restaurants.

Heartless is far from what we saw in that interview. Snyder was visibly shaken by what had happened in Flint, and he wasn't hiding his emotion. He promised to take responsibility and committed to making things right for the people who had been harmed by government's failures. And he followed through.

Flint's water tainted water lines are nearly all replaced, affected children are receiving ongoing attention and businesses are showing interest in the city.

Set aside the balance sheet of Snyder's achievements/failures. Measure him instead by the way he conducted himself in office. He was unique in his constant civility. We never heard the governor engage in a personal attack. Never heard him disparage his opponents.  Never saw him waver in his commitment to stay positive. Even during Flint, when his character was being assassinated by those who didn't even know him, he never lashed out in anger.

We expect that Snyder will become a much more popular governor over time. And we expect Michigan will miss him even sooner.

THE MICHIGAN PENAL CODE (EXCERPT)Act 328 of 1931

750.249 Forgery of records and other instruments; uttering and publishing; exception.

Sec. 249.

(1) A person who utters and publishes as true a false, forged, altered, or counterfeit record, instrument, or other writing listed in section 248 knowing it to be false, altered, forged, or counterfeit with intent to injure or defraud is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 14 years.

(2) This section does not apply to a scrivener's error.

History: 1931, Act 328, Eff. Sept. 18, 1931 ;-- CL 1948, 750.249 ;-- Am. 2008, Act 378, Imd. Eff. Dec. 23, 2008 ;-- Am. 2011, Act 206, Eff. Jan. 1, 2012
Former Law: See section 2 of Ch. 155 of R.S. 1846, being CL 1857, § 5803; CL 1871, § 7632; How., § 9214; CL 1897, § 11660; CL 1915, § 15433; and CL 1929, § 17049.

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