Jerome Corsi and Me

Jim Henderson <jmhenderson58@gmail.com> Sun, Oct 16, 2016 at 9:21 AM To: jcorsi@worldnetdaily.com Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original Mr. Corsi, I read with interest your article on John Podesta's connection to Russia through Joule in the article, "RUSSIA? LOOK WHO’S REALLY IN BED WITH MOSCOW." I have been following the Podesta email leaks on Wikileaks and noticed an email with two Joule-related documents attached. The Podesta email is at https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/4221. The text of that email:  From:esepp@americanprogress.org To: jpodesta@americanprogress.org  Date: 2013-12-31 19:19 Subject: Joule Letters Signed transfer letter and resignation letter attached. Attached to that email are two documents. One is a resignation letter from Podesta, resigning from directorships with all Joule related entities. Here is an image of that email resignation letter (obviously, you will need to confirm this by checking the attached documents, I am providing for convenience so you get the gist of a question I have: ​ The second document attached to the wikileaks email is the one that has raised a question for me, in relation to your article. You stated, "In his 2014 federal government disclosure filing, Podesta declared he divested stock options from Joule, but the disclosure does not cover the years 2011-2012." So, here's the second document: ​ Now, if I read this letter correctly, he may PERSONALLY DIVESTED ownership, but, in keeping with a referenced agreement for Right of First Refusal and Co-Sale, Podesta confirmed that this transfer, to Leonidio Holdings LLC, was to "a custodian or trustee of any trust, partnership or limited liability company for the benefit of, or the ownership interests of which are owned wholly by myself or any of my family members . . . ." This leaves me then, with the question, did he accurately report divestment? If he retains actual or beneficial control of his shares in Joule, did he accurately report divestment? I know only enough about this to ask questions, but given your having researched and written in the area, I wanted to drawn this to your attention. Warm regards, James M. Henderson 910-381-0317 Member, Kentucky, DC, and NC Bars Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original

jcorsi@wnd.com <jcorsi@wnd.com> Sun, Oct 16, 2016 at 10:38 AM To: Jim Henderson <jmhenderson58@gmail.com> Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original Jim I've been working on this issue and your email is helpful. See this article too: http://www.wnd.com/2016/10/hillary-campaign-chief-linked-to-money-laundering-in-russia/  Thanks Jerry Corsi

102 Jean Circle, Jacksonville, NC 28540

1. Heating system, now more than 20 years old, doesn't work at all.

2.  A/C system, now more than 20 years old, stopped working. Temporary replacement fan and capacitor allow the system to run but it makes a good bit of noise.

3. Outside stairwell drain has not drained properly in the five years of our tenancy. Consequently, it is easily overwhelmed during heavy rains and hurricanes. Hurricane Florence gave us just at 2 inches of standing water in the basement.

4. Mold? Yes. Visible on the outside of the walls. What about on the inside?

5. The roof is 20+ years old. Has been patched at least twice. Flashing around the chimney is shot. Heavy rains mean flooding in "man cave" unless chimney is kept covered by tarp/plastic. Nice look, though.

6. Hot water heater works, although also 20+ years old.

7. Main sewer line has a bow in it. This causes sewage to back up into the house. The first time was January 2015. Has happened 8-10 times since then. When it happens, expect to have Roto-Rooter drill in from street due to the deformity in the sewer line. That, by the way, was caused by:

8. 60-80 pine tree compromising sewer line in the front yard. Thankfully, Hurricane Florence knocked the tree down. Sadly, that tree continues to lay on the front lawn.

9.  Numerous windows have not worked properly during our tenancy. Counterweights were busted or their cords are broken. Watch your fingers at all times.

10. Soil erosion under driveway and carport revealed in a series of serious cracks and breaks in carport and driveway.

11. No basement waterproofing. As a consequent, three separate instances of rain or groundwater intrusion into the home, along the front wall, one side wall, and the back wall of the basement.

12. Kitchen circuits are under-amped and underpowered. Have some coffee, or have some toast, or use your electric skillet. But never do all three at once.

13.  Ceilings in the dining room and living room are water-stained and cracked due to rainwater exposure from roof leaks.

14.  Leaking water from all sources have completely compromised sheetrock in the downstairs bathroom, which crumbles without anyone touching it.

15. With each major flooding, including sewer and rain/groundwater, basement tiles have been undermined by water beneath.  In one room, this has also caused press-and-stick tiles to become detached. In the main room, tiles squish for weeks after such intrusions. In another basement room, the composite wood flooring is swollen due to absorbing moisture.

Words ... Weapons of War … for the Heart and the Mind

The book was simply titled. "Propaganda and the American Revolution." Published by UNC Chapel Hill Press, it was, I think, a student's doctoral dissertation on the topic, researched and written in the 1940s. My mom bought it for me from a used book bin at a library book sale. It was paperback and about 400 pages.

I read and re-read that book. It stayed with me through the end of our anti-abortion picketing days here in Jacksonville, through my law school years, through my years as Staff Counsel with @FreeSpeechAdvocates, Litigation Counsel with @ChristianAdvocatesServingEvangelism, Senior Counsel with @ACLJ, and through the eight years that I directed the Washington DC Semester Program of the Regent University School of Law.

It was not a rip-roaring spy thriller.

Rather, it was a fairly interesting, academic examination of how propaganda was used by both Loyalists and Revolutionaries in the period leading to America’s independence from Great Britain. Unless and until you dig below the surface of what is taught in public school history classes, you will miss a singular fact, namely, what a rabble America’s founding generation was. “Propaganda and the American Revolution” serves well as a scuba tank for a dive into a deeper examination of one topic, propaganda, in the context of the revolution.

Surface examinations of subjects like the conditions animating revolution are the best that can be expected in typical classroom studies. That approach may suffice for passing achievement tests, but it won’t necessarily provide an adequate basis, of either information or evaluation, to put contemporary protests in a historical framework.

For example, if you are offended by flag burning by Black Lives Matters protesters or anti-war activists, if the street marches (setting aside those that involve destroying property and visiting violence on others) that have followed America’s selection of Donald Trump as the 45^th President represent a deeply anti-American endeavor, then you probably don't know about, or don’t fully comprehend, the particular pains taken to convince the great middle of colonial America to treat themselves as having suffered horrendous abuses at the hands of the Crown and the Parliament, driving them, if they would, to rise up and throw off the colonial yoke.

In the realm of the imaginative and nonviolent, colonial officials watched as colonists hung their images in effigy in town squares, from "Liberty Trees" and the like. In the world of the painful and violent, colonial officials were, on a few known occasions, painted with tar, dusted with feathers, and literally "ridden out of town on a rail."

(In case you miss the meaning of it, there were no trains in the late mid-18th century. A rail then was a single, extended, member of a rail and picket fence. In other words, being ridden out of town on a rail meant being set, legs splayed and wood rising, on a fence rail, and being carried out of town, with the rail constantly rising in that tenderest location on the human body.)

Sure, we heard about, perhaps studied, the Stamp Act, the Sugar Act, the Townsend Acts, the quartering of troops in colonists’ homes, and King George’s decision to hire Hessian mercenaries to suppress revolutionary sentiment in the colonies by show of brute force. But the fact remains: colonists who lived in those times, experienced those exactions, those impositions, and those threats were apparently content to live under the rough and weighting hand of England.

And that is where the work of propagandists came in. And that is the topic of the book mentioned at the beginning of this post.

So, when you take the closer in look that someone's labors in the colonial historical collections and libraries of New England, the Atlantic seaboard, and the colonial South allows, you begin to understand how the revolution was stood up from the midst of a sleepy young people.

While comparisons to Occupy Wall Street, or Black Lives Matter, or the current round of anti-Trump protests would overstate the case, there was a role in the propaganda campaign for very public demonstrations and protests. Moreover, there are, in today’s blogging, social networking, and tweeting, historical antecedents that were part of the foment for revolution and independence.

THE PUBLIC SQUARE AND THE FLASH MOB.

In September 2012, I traveled to New York City on the Acela Express.

I went to the Big Apple to argue before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. My argument would defend a victory I (and the team I supervised) obtained in a federal trial court in New York. This argument would be my last as Senior Counsel with the ACLJ.

The case involved a New York City ordinance coercing Pregnancy Resource Centers to communicate a set of messages chosen for them by the Democratic Party-controlled City Council. The targeting of Pregnancy Resource Centers was a coordinated effort that came to light as select, Democratic Party controlled jurisdictions began devoting precious government resources to the investigation of proposed ordinances and the subsequent enactment of them, and the inevitable expenses of defending them in courts. Jurisdictions that participated in the effort included the Montgomery County, Maryland County Commission, the New York City Council, the Baltimore City Council, and, subsequently, the Austin, Texas, City Council and, most recently, the State of California.

The targeting began in the aftermath of an investigative series by James O’Keefe and Lila Rose in which the willingness of Planned Parenthood facilities around the Nation to ignore evidence of statutory rape of minor females became broadly exposed. That expose led to calls to defund Planned Parenthood – a call that preceded the more recent round resulting from revelations about Planned Parenthood’s ghoulery of infant body parts sales.

In any event, with Planned Parenthood under the hot lamps and Congress being pressed to act, Planned Parenthood’s guardian angels began a counter offensive against what, apparently, Planned Parenthood considers its opposite number, volunteer run, not for profit, often religiously affiliated, pregnancy resource centers. The upshot of those efforts, in New York City, was the regressive, First Amendment contrary, compulsory speech ordinance imposed there. We obtained an injunction against the enforcement of the ordinance, and sustained that victory on appeal.

But, as I said, I traveled to New York City to argue in defense of our trial court win.

When I arrived in Penn Station, I witnessed a beautiful and rising chorus of singing. It was a flash mob that had been drawn to the Station by messages on social media, texts, etc. They slowly gathered, one voice, joined by one, and then two, three, five, twelve. By the time their performance ended, I suppose there were about 30 singing.

Such flash mobs might seem a creature of the 21^st century, but the American colonists knew their revolutionary antecedent:

One of the more common events in the pre-Revolutionary Period was a "funeral for liberty." "Liberty" was carried on a bier, decked with solemn and funereal colors. The crowds mourned as dead dear Liberty passed. The procession would end in the town square or other central location. At the last second, before the pretended interment of expired Liberty, she would rise from the bier, revived, reinvigorated, and rousing the crowd against depredations by Crown and Parliament.

In addition to funerals for Liberty, more than a few protests involved the display of colonial governors or other representatives of the Crown being hung in effigy.

THE BROADSIDE AND THE BLOG.

You are, perhaps to your great pain, reading a post on my blog.

As you do, literally billions of additional words are being poured onto the World Wide Web as blog posts. The topics are nearly innumerable, from whether Kirk or Piccard was the better captain, to whether cats or dogs are the better pet, to whether Bush or Obama were the cause of the rise of ISIS and the decline of the American economy.

These postings, and the sites and services that make them available to us, I call the “internet of words.”

(I would have claimed credit here for that phrase. Unfortunately for me, before I claim a neologism or a neophraseologism, I usually perform a Bing search. In this case, I learned that a book review in the Chronicle of Higher Education, back in 2014, bore the title, “The Internet of Words.” Here, however, I will kidnap the phrase and put it to work for me to identify a subset of internet communications: those that communicate the intended meanings of the creator through writing, rather than images (accompanying images permitted but not as a substitute in the communication of essential ideas)).

Of course, the principal means of communication – aside from the spoken word – at the time of the revolution in America was the printed word. Pamphlets, like Thomas Paine’s Common Sense are well known down to this day, and even studied in civics classes. Another widely spread and effective tool of communication, to which I've at least alluded here before, was the kind of printed publication called a “broadside.” These were printed single sided and were as large as posters popular in the bedrooms of teenagers today.

Broadsides proved effective tools for stirring the slightest embers of discontent into the raging flame of revolution. Such broadsides were numerous. Broadsides included news stories, calls to arms, and warnings of doom. The Continental Congress that issued the Declaration of Independence had it printed in broadside format to distribute widely in the colonies.

THE PULPIT AND YOUTUBE

Vine is gone. Snapchat is a young American’s medium. YouTube, however, cuts across generations. Sure, it carries videos from the latest contemporary musical artists and trailers for coming attractions. But YouTube also carries wonderful products, shorter and longer, of thought and imagination, as well as lessons in history and economics, mathematics, science, and technology. It is on YouTube that we hear the many voices of Anonymous, wearing the mysterious mask from the movie, V for Vendetta. We also hear careful and thorough messages illuminating broadly scattered subject matter.

Muhlenberg's decloaking in the pulpit

In the revolutionary era, the closest things to YouTube were pulpit addresses by ministers and public addresses by speakers. One chapter of “Propaganda and The American Revolution” explored the role of the black-robed brigade. These were pastors and preachers, pounding pulpits, for revolution or for fidelity to the crown.  Probably the most emblematic and readily recognized pulpit revolutionary was the German Lutheran, Peter Muhlenberg.

Whether the Muhlenberg story is apocryphal or true, it is said that Reverend Muhlenberg, after preaching a solemn sermon on the cause of the Revolution, stripped off his clerical garb, revealing a colonial uniform. What is known to be true is that he preached the sermon, delivered men and arms to the cause of revolution, and acquitted himself well in the War for Independence.

But Muhlenberg’s preaching for separation from the Crown was not singular even if it has become iconic. In fact, “Political Sermons of the Founding Era,” evidences the role of the black-robed brigade in fomenting support or opposition to revolution through expository preaching. Edited by Ellis Sandoz, “Political Sermons” gathers hundreds of such sermons, as well as so-called “Election Day” sermons, which were messages delivered prior to the taking of the vote on Election Day. From those sermons, and from the many of them subsequently published as pamphlets that survive in colonial and historical libraries, we can see the profound role of the pulpit in the revolutionary era.

SUMMING IT UP.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

The saying is a truism and a truth.

A significant portion of the American electorate did not get its way in the 2016 presidential election, just as many of us did not get our way in 2012, 2008, 1996, 1992, and 1976. The resort of the disaffected to public protests, and obloquy directed at the victor is entirely American. Violence as a form of protest, however, is neither peculiar to America, nor tolerable nor lawful.

Our colonial experience with despotism still needed a febrile brew to bring us to revolution. Many today, and on all sides, sense the need for revolutionary changes. For some, the revolution leads to localism and downscaled government. For others, the nanny plantation will not be large enough until everyone is on it and everyone agrees with it. I hope that as we face the protests – not lawful, nonviolent ones – we will remember that, however silly or unwarranted we might think their cause, they are exercising a right that we are bound to maintain and respect, if we want it respected in our turn.

The ABC/Washington Post Poll of People Not Likely to Vote

Noto Bene: The duty of candor requires that I mention that the October 23, 2016, poll included 874 LIKELY voters. But it also included 517 NOT LIKELY TO VOTE participants.

Here's another example of using oversampling to steer the outcome of a poll.

ABC News Washington Post Tracking Poll today is being reported to show that Clinton has opened a 12 point lead over Trump. Fascinating stuff. Odd, too, considering that less than two weeks ago, a similar poll reported by ABC/WaPo showed Clinton leading by 6 points.

Let's call today's poll the "new poll" and the other poll the "old poll."

The old poll was conducted by interviewing fewer than 800 "LIKELY VOTERS."

The new poll was conducted by interviewing just over 1300 subjects, of whom 874 were LIKELY VOTERS.

The results of the new poll, however, are not the results of just those 874 likely voters. That poll interviewed 1391 people. Nearly 500 people were interviewed and their responses included in the results of the poll despite the fact that they were NOT LIKELY TO VOTE.

Say What?

Yes.

The total result of the poll included 874 folks that are likely to vote and FIVE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN respondents who ARE NOT LIKELY TO VOTE.

NOT LIKELY TO VOTE.

Think about the meaning of that phrase and how it connects to the matter with which we tend to ASSUME news organizational polling is concerned. Maybe that is the place to start.

Why do you look at news reports of polling?

Is it a search for confirmation? Sort of an internal dialog, "See, the majority of folks agree with me" kind of thing?

Is it an effort to see into the future? Sort of a "Well, let's see how this is going to turn out? kind of thing?

I think these are two of the most common responses to expect when you get honest responses from folks as to why they are interested in such polls.

But suppose what you are looking for in polling is not what campaigns and/or news agencies are seeking?

You realize that "push polling" exists. Those polls that, rather than gauging the temper of the people seek to put fire under them or dump cold water on them.

Let's not jump to any conclusions yet. But, suppose a polling agency and its partners wanted to steer the outcome of a poll. If they did, which approach do you think might be more effective. I'll give you two choices.

Choice A.

After confirming that the interview subject fits poll requirements (likely voter or not; party affiliation or not; racial and cultural demographic or not), ask one question:

"In a two way race between Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, for whom would you vote?"

Choice B.

Again, after confirming that the interview subject fits poll requirements (likely voter or not; party affiliation or not; racial and cultural demographic or not), ask three questions:

"First, Donald Trump says the election may be rigged through election fraud. Do you think he is expressing a legitimate concern or that he is making excuses for a possible unfavorable outcome?"

"Second, Donald Trump refuses to say if he will accept the outcome of the election. Do you approve or disapprove of his remark?"

"Third, In a two way race between Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, for whom would you vote?"

Now, you make your own judgment. But for me, asking a couple of good ground penetrating bomb blast questions might just be the kind of thing that deforms outcomes that might otherwise be gotten by simply asking for whom the likely voter is likely to vote.

But Choice A above is not what Langer Associates did in its polling for ABC News and the Washington Post. Instead, it took Choice B, peppering participants with those questions.

The ABC/WaPo poll also engaged in modeling. This approach looks at some past election, determines participation percentages by party and then skews its sampling according to those numbers.

Here, the Langer agency skewed its sample. Here's how they described their skew: "Partisan divisions are 36-27-31 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents." In other words, the agency set itself a quota task: 36% of those interviewed must be Democrats, 27% must be Republicans, 31% must be Independents. These kinds of partisan divisions are included in most polls. The exact percentages change. For example, why 36-27-31 when the Pew Center says that, currently, the breakdown in partisanship is 33-29-34?

You can see, I'm sure, then, that the specific, formulaic breakdown used in selecting polling participants can skew the numbers, and it becomes important, if polls are something you have to deal with or choose to deal with, to KNOW what the pollster is using for partisan division, and to know WHY they are using any particular spread.

I'm going to wrap here by returning to that 517 number.

Remember, this poll was one conducted by interviewing 517 people, according to the polling methodology, who were not likely to vote and 874 who were likely to vote. I've read the poll. I've read the research methodology. No other information appears on the polling agency's page to explain who those 517 folks were (I mean demographically, rather than personal identity) or WHY their responses are a part of the survey.

The questions not answered in the survey or its methodology include whether, and to what extent, the inclusion of those NOT LIKELY TO VOTE in the survey, skewed the outcome. But given the substantial shift from ABC/WaPo's survey of two weeks ago, which was of LIKELY VOTERS ONLY, it seems reasonable to ask about that group, and in the absence of a forthright explanation, it seems reasonable to conclude that was the purpose of the group’s inclusion in the poll.