Category Archives: Abuse of Power

The Mysterious, Missing Mr. Mifsud

Published October 11, 2019 / by Lee Kessler / 1 Comment on The Mysterious, Missing Mr. Mifsud
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Sounds like the title of a movie Humphrey Bogart would have starred in, doesn’t it?  Feels like the shadowy, titillating stuff that spy novels are made of, doesn’t it?  Looks like someone Tom Clancy would have opened one of his novels with–in order to set up the plot and deception that triggers the rest of his story–doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, this one is for real.   Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese professor with questionable ties to almost everyone, has disappeared.   In fact he has been missing since Nov. 6, 2017 when he vanished in Rome.   AG William Barr, and Prosecutor John Durham were–or maybe still are–in Rome piecing together the puzzle of what started the whole Russia Collusion investigation.  And, they want to talk with the mysterious, missing Mr. Mifsud.

I wish them luck, as Mr. Mifsud is likely either dead, or he has been “brought in out of the cold.” By whom?   Russia?   Italy?   the UK?  Australia?   The US?   He came onto my radar screen more than 18 months ago when I believe it was some kind of Congressional Committee wanted to talk with him, relevant to George Papadopoulos and alleged connections between the Trump Campaign and Russia.

The TV journalist covering that story just happened to mention this Professor, and that he was missing.   If you don’t know already, I write Spy, Intelligence, Information Warfare novels, inspired by actual events, and written about current events.   If you have followed my earlier Blogs, you may remember when I pointed out the power of “omitted information” and the effect it has on investigations.

To me, and of course I could be wrong, Mr. Mifsud is pivotal, and someone rewarded him for playing his part by bringing him into another identity to live out his life hiding in plain site.   Or they killed him to keep him from ever telling what he knew, and what he did.   My money is on the latter, since it appears he was nervous enough about his interview with our FBI that he was suddenly writing emails to them, to “clarify” what he had said or meant.   He was apparently rushed, worried, and feared someone was coming for him.

I believe someone was, and Mifsud had figured it out.   The News Media–which has been almost entirely wrong in their investigations–believes he is a Russian Intelligence Asset.  Others believe that was a false lead, and that he is not a Russian spy, but rather a Western Intelligence Asset.   Wake up folks!   How murky is that, and how nebulous?!   A “Western” asset!    That encompasses a lot of countries, and a lot of intelligence agencies.   Whose asset?

Is the mysterious, missing Mr. Mifsud a Russian spy, or is he a US spy working in counter-intelligence?   Is he a British spy, since he has so much history with London?  Or is he a Double Agent, working for Russia and  the other “Western” country or countries?   Since the Press believes he is a Russian spy and since they are trying to knock down any possible connection to Western countries, they at least describe him as a purported “Western” asset.   If true, which one or ones?   If more than one, you, my friends are looking at a conspiracy.

And guess where Barr and Durham have gone in recent weeks in the pursuit of the origins of the Russia Hoax?   Australia–whose government is cooperating.  The UK–whose government is cooperating.   They may have gone to the Ukraine as well.   But for sure, they are in Italy–whose government is cooperating.  Who is left?   The UNITED STATES.

Director John Brennan went on TV a week or so ago, and said he had been notified that when they return, he will be “interviewed.”   Can you feel him breathing on you now, Director Brennan, this “Bloodhound?”

And where does the Media want us to put our attention while the final weeks of this riveting investigation occur–where we may finally find out who started this long national nightmare?  Ukraine.  Now we have the Ukraine version of the Russia Collusion scandal.  Don’t fall for this twice.   The old adage applies here.   Fool me once, shame on you.   Fool me twice, shame on me!

Quite a movie plot, isn’t it?  Or a spy novel plot?   Sadly, like so much of what I wrote about, this one is not fiction.   It is real.

And as for the mysterious, missing Mr. Mifsud, my guess is he is either dead, OR–hopefully– hiding in plain sight in Rome.   TIme will tell.

A Message for Director John Brennan

Published October 6, 2019 / by Lee Kessler / 3 Comments on A Message for Director John Brennan
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Dear John,

You have manipulated the media. You have deceived politicians. You have disdain for all of us Americans.   You’re pretty bright.   But, not bright enough.

You may run propaganda and “dead agenting” marketing technologies past dim journalists with no intellectual curiosity, and no intellect even if they had curiosity.  They may have unwittingly or wittingly withheld from the American people all the true corruption,crimes, and swamp-like offenses because you influenced them to the point of stupidity.   The American people may not yet be aware of the crimes you and your cabal have committed.

But, a true investigative “blood hound” is on your trail.   Can you feel him coming?  I know you can because I saw you on television disdainfully talking about him.   That may con the vapid TV journalist, but it will not deter the “blood hound.”  He cares nothing about money, or power, or control.  He does not desire to be “liked and admired.”   He cares about Justice, and he is on your trail.

Stay tuned, Mr. Brennan…

The Ultimate Turnaround Guy!

Published October 2, 2019 / by Lee Kessler / 2 Comments on The Ultimate Turnaround Guy!
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I was married to a world-class turnaround guy until his passing in 2008.   During our marriage I came to understand–up close and personal–what a turnaround guy has to know, what they do, and the risks they take.

Businessmen who do turnarounds are brought into failing enterprises and entities to find out why the organization is declining, who is involved, and how to figure out a solution which turns the stats around, and saves the company.

Shockingly, when he was first explaining to me the “string pulling” type of investigation he would be hired to do, he said, “I can always find the Who, Lee.   I can always find out Why.   But, I have to get them before they get me, physically, financially, or psychologically.”   In other words, his work involved finding out who deliberately and maliciously was tanking the company–Why they were doing it, and how they were doing it.   And it was further his job to put a spotlight on them, and bring them out into the open, and to “justice.”  Though I did not know him then, he told me of an assignment where he and his partner were hired to find suspected corruption in HUD.  He described it as his most physically dangerous assignment, where they had to change hotels every night to avoid assassination.   Three cars were blown up under them, and they survived.  Dangerous work–helping the American taxpayer!

What he told me next, was even more unsettling.   “It is always an inside job.   And, it is always at or near the top.”   Think about it.   You own a company, or run a charity, or an agency of government and the very people you have chosen to fulfill the mission and expand the company may be people who will make certain the mission is never accomplished.   Worse yet, they will be close to you, and in positions of power.   They are trusted.   That makes the betrayal all the more painful, and also insures they can remain hidden.   The reason for that–we don’t suspect that those we entrusted with our dream could actually be working to destroy it.  So, we look elsewhere.   We create other “reasons why” the stats are declining.   We chase other red herrings.   All the while, the culprit or culprits continue their sabotage.

In case you don’t understand Donald J. Trump, he is a turnaround guy.   Whether he intended to be or not, he is.   The American people sent him into the “swamp” to figure out and fix the decline of our economy, our education, our military, our security, and our global position and influence.  His role now involves, whether he wants it or not, finding the seditious people, and isolating their activities.

My experience with my husband prepared me to face the unthinkable.   It is an “inside job.”   It is at, or near, the top:  Inside the State Department, the Defense Department, the Justice Department, the Federal Reserve, or most insidious of all–the Intelligence Community which by definition hides in the shadows and plays dirty tricks.  The players will be Directors, Deputy Directors, and other job titles that put the person close to the Director level.

I believe to survive as a free country we must identify these people, bring them into daylight, extract confessions of what they did, who they did it with, when they did it, and most important of all, Why they did it.  Then, perhaps we won’t have to drain the swamp; Just clean the swamp.

Because the good news about turnaround guys is that once they find the source and handle it, the stats reverse and the company or organization starts to flourish again.

Simple.   The “ultimate turnaround guy” was hired by the American people who smelled the stench from Washington, DC.   He came in competent and prepared to make things better again.  And now, like my husband, his job is to get them before they get him.

I challenge you to take a look at the current scene again through the eyes of a turnaround person .   Can you see now?

“Grandpa, where were you when freedom died?”

Published September 27, 2019 / by Lee Kessler / 3 Comments on “Grandpa, where were you when freedom died?”
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In 1982 I met a man who later became my business mentor until he passed away.  He was always controversial, and challenged you to think.   That night he admonished several thousand people to be willing to face the challenges to freedom we might encounter.   I don’t know if the others listened, but his words struck me then, and have haunted me since.

He spoke of a time 30-40 years into the future when we might be living in totalitarianism, and he suggested we envision ourselves sitting in a chair with our grand-daughter on our knee, telling her of a time when we were free, and describing freedom.   The granddaughter needed her grandpa or grandma to tell her, since there was no mention of freedom times in her history books.  The grandparents were the last people who had lived free.  She could not originate a communication to friends or teachers without being spied on by intelligence/information officers, and neighbor citizens, to ascertain if she spoke the “approved thoughts.”  Her parents could not keep the money they earned.   It was taken instead by the state and parceled out, forcing everyone to share equally in poverty.  She could not even think a separate or different thought from the “approved thoughts” because technology had advanced to the point, it almost seemed like one could read her mind.   Her appreciation for art was controlled.  She had an “approved” diet.   She had “approved” exercise.  She lived in “approved housing.” “Alexa” was listening 24 hours a day.  Guilt related to crimes was determined by the state.   And accusation meant guilt.  The result:   a society where people dutifully went to work, organized bar-b-ques, played ball or video games, living what they thought were “normal” lives–all controlled by an all-present “Intelligence” apparatus.

And you, the grandparent, were describing the time of free thought, free speech, rule of law, and freedom to choose careers and life’s work.   You described a big, beautiful, diverse world with many countries and cultures.

When you paused to reflect upon the past you grew up in, your grand-daughter turned to you and asked, “Grandpa, where were you when freedom died?”

At that point my mentor challenged us to wake up, look around at what was happening in America, and to decide whether we were going to sit by drinking beer, watching games, going to church, building businesses, and let it happen because we were uninformed and ignorant, or whether we were going to open our eyes, and see something he saw.

For whatever reason, though mad that he was taking time in a business seminar to address this, I looked where he was looking, and when I did, I saw what he saw.  That changed the course and purpose of my life.

Those of you who have followed my Blogs know that I am the 8th generation descendant of a man who fought with George Washington, and who endured the unspeakable to form this country, and provide a chance for his progeny eight generations into the future.   My mentor had challenged me to look at the legacy I would leave the next generations.

Yesterday, though I was prospering and flourishing in my business and in my life, I chose to watch the Congressional Hearing about the alleged “Whistleblower.” It is a habit I developed years ago. My own dad took me every summer to Washington, DC to watch government in operation.   We would not only visit monuments and museums, we would sit for hours in the gallery listening to great Senators and Congressmen debate and execute the powers vested in them by the Constitution.  We would visit in person our Representative and our Senators, and my dad would tell them what he wanted them to do.  Washington, DC was not called “the Swamp” then. I was a small child, but I learned.

One of the things I learned–which I do to this day–is that I try to watch an actual speech or Congressional Hearing, or read an actual document as compared to excerpts or, worse yet, analyses by news media.   My dad gave me a great gift of freedom: a fine mind, and encouragement to think my own thoughts, and form my own opinions based upon facts, not raw emotion.   I am far from perfect on this, but I try.  I hold this a priority, however, even if I fall short.   And I remind myself that our country was formed by “imperfect” people.

And, yesterday, what I witnessed at first saddened me beyond measure.   It angered me also.   It was not the blatant inflammatory lie and presentation that the Chairman of the Committee opened with.   It was not the partisan carping.   It was not the disrespect for the witness, and for the American people. As the complaint by the whistleblower was read, and discussed, I was easily able to discern that it was written by lawyers–more than one.  Disclaimers, different writing styles.   It was like a lawyer’s brief, and I knew someone was deceiving our Congress, and deceiving us.

What I saw was something far more sinister, something I have written about in fiction for over a decade, and which I prayed I would not see  play out in a live demonstration.  What I saw were spies that have penetrated the White House, Political Campaigns, the Congress, and the Courts.   Actual Intelligence officers deployed to infiltrate the parts of government you and I think–apparently we are delusional–that we control.  After all, don’t we the people elect the President of the United States?   Don’t we the people elect our Congressmen and women, and Senators?  Don’t we the people rely upon the Judicial Branch to keep us safe and free?

It was not the content of the report that was most disturbing to me. It was the fact–apparently unnoticed by anyone–that there were CIA officers deployed into the White House.   They weren’t there to occupy some office near the laundry, playing card games.   No, this bunch was in the Situation Room, transcribing conversations between heads of state.   And worse, leaking those conversations.  Their transcription may be accurate, but the leak was not.   That, my friends, is the essence of Disinformation.  So, the transcript is now confirmed by the two heads of state, and the “whistleblower” charge with the hearsay, leaked material is not.  The Intelligence Community that did this does not care about any of this.   They care about confusion and chaos, and mistrust.   And, boy, did they create that!

Back to my questions about “we the people” and who elects the President of the United States.  I was taught we did.   I, like you, have lived my life honorably, honoring our system.   I had no idea that somewhere along the way–LONG BEFORE DONALD J. TRUMP–another group of non-elected people within the Intelligence and Law Enforcement Community decided we were ignorant, stupid, beneath them and not to be trusted with power.  So, if we get it wrong with our vote, they will set it right, since they “know best.”  They use every criminal method imaginable to frame people, destroy people, create conflict amongst friends, and to blackmail and extort into submission anyone who acts as if freedom is ours.

To them, the only freedom we have is the one they will allow.   Confident that this will culminate in the next 20 years in the disintegration of our union, and the collapse of our culture and American Dream as we know it, they wait–gathering information, or planting false information to knock out anyone who might challenge them. ( In my opinion, that is why the grenade known as Donald Trump is so threatening to them. I doubt he had any idea what he was stepping into.  His plans and agenda, however, directly threaten to undermine theirs.   That’s all.)

We have already lost more freedom than you can imagine.   This has been going on for decades as we enjoy the surface trappings of freedom.   Underneath, the surveillance operation has set traps.

And when Rule of Law breaks down, anarchy ensues.   When anarchy occurs, totalitarianism is embraced as a solution.  I wrote novels to show that our enemies know the only way to take the United States down is to persuade the American people to take it down themselves. These guys are ready.   They are waiting for us to destroy ourselves based upon the false data they planted, the true data they have hidden, and the misinterpretations they have brainwashed us with.   America seems to be right on target for the loss of freedom because we will be too corrupt, and ignorant to govern ourselves.

It was 37 years ago that my mentor Bill Britt painted that haunting picture.   We are, today, now in the time frame he spoke about.  And I believe we should all stop, take a deep breath, look at our “neighbor” and ask ourselves:   Did freedom die? Did we miss it?  And then ask ourselves the follow up question our grandchildren will ask, “Grandpa, where were you when freedom died?”

In the interest of full transparency here, I don’t have children or grandchildren.   But I love yours.  I am grateful the man forced me to “look,” oh so many years ago.   I have been fighting ever since.  Freedom may die.  No government like ours was ever formed before in history, and no democracies have survived more than 200 years or so, if I remember my history correctly.

I am no longer angry at insane, obsessed politicians.   I am no longer angry at a devious, conspiratorial Media.  I have my eyes clearly on the target now–the rogue, elite, Intelligence community that got too big for its britches, and thinks itself superior to all of us.  My third book, “White King and the Battle of America: the Endgame” is playing out for real, right now.   For behind those Intelligence pipsqueaks like former CIA director John Brennan, lies their funding.  In my novel, we win and America survives.   The world survives.  But only because my heroes identify WHO is actually financing, and placing the “spies” in our midst.  WHO intends to run the world.  In my fiction, we win–because of “you the people.”

Freedom does not die on my watch.  For the sake of your children and grandchildren, will you make sure it doesn’t die on yours?

You may ask, what can I do?

I exhort you.   Send this into your newspapers as an Op-Ed Submission.   Send it into the Editorial pages for inclusion.  You have to attribute it to me, but you can send it.   Post it on Facebook.   Forward this on Social Media.   Use your communication lines.  Call into Radio Talk Shows.   Forward it in emails to the top Talk Show hosts’ websites.   Send it to the White House.   Send it to both of your Senators, and Congressperson.   Understand the full meaning of the title of my last book, and know the urgency.

The Blackmail Attempt

Published September 2, 2019 / by Lee Kessler / 2 Comments on The Blackmail Attempt
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“Power corrupts.   Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”   Attributed to President Lincoln I believe, we have all heard that statement.  Ask yourself, do you think the Washington insiders desire power?  Love power?  Attain power? Don’t want to lose power? Manipulate to gain and keep power?

If you answered yes–and I suspect you did to at least one of the questions–then let’s talk.  I learned along the way that once someone has acquired power, they want to keep it.   And they are capable of manipulating circumstances, people, and institutions to keep it.  No area is more rife with potential corruption, in my opinion, than the intelligence and senior law enforcement communities.

It’s all a question of motive.   If the person is Good (see last year’s Blog on Good People, Bad People), they will steward their power, and their powerful tools in order to serve the people, not themselves.   But, if the person is Bad, they will try to gain as many tools and as much power as possible, and insure that nothing threatens their kingdom.

If you have been following any of my Blogs, you know I have called the former CIA Director, and current provocateur, out on many occasions.   Today, I am going a little deeper.

Perhaps the most effective way to maintain power, and to insure that no one fires you if you are the Director of the FBI, the Director of the CIA, or the Director of National Intelligence–or any other position frankly–is to maintain blackmail files on any one who might hinder your activities, might supplant you, fire you, imprison you…the list goes on and on.

Now, in order for the blackmail to work, the information in the file needs to be true, or so intimidating that the person being blackmailed doesn’t want to even be subjected to trying to defend their innocent self.   Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was famous for finding and using blackmail material on all manner of people.

The interesting thing is that the Blackmail File is a defensive tool usually.   One has their files to haul out in the event someone threatens their position, or to get someone to take a desired action.  Otherwise the files are kept in a safe for a “rainy day.”

I’m coming out here and suggesting to you all that in the months ahead you will discover that what I am about to say is likely true.   Whether it be courageous Justice Department investigators, who themselves are clean like the “Untouchables” of Elliot Ness ilk, or whether it be journalists who still believe in honest investigations and reporting, this information will come out.   Perhaps in piecemeal. Perhaps in a torrent.   But, it will come out.

At his first meeting with President-elect Trump, FBI Director James Comey pushed a file across the desk for Trump to read.   It is a matter of record now that the file contained the infamous Steele Dossier with horrific and salacious material in it relevant to Donald Trump.   If you love James Comey and his sanctimonious justifications, you will likely think he did this to protect his new boss.

Quite the contrary.   in my opinion, James Comey attempted to blackmail the President of the United States that day in order to preserve his own position as Director of the FBI, and/or to force the new President into submission and compliance on a whole host of improper at best– and illegal at worst–activities that the bureau’s top leadership had been involved in for a long time.

James Comey did not hate Donald Trump. He and others were threatened by him because they knew that–as President of the United States–he would discover this bad behavior and would likely take action, since he was elected by the people under the war cry, “Drain the Swamp.”

In the best scenario, he probably expected Trump to behave as, I expect, other Presidents have behaved when they saw their own blackmail folder’s contents.  He expected the President to yield, possibly even ask, “What do you want?”

They obviously hadn’t evaluated the unique personality of Donald Trump.   Donald Trump is like Wyatt Earp–a flawed, but fearless protector of the good people.   And a sworn enemy of bad guys who intimidate and extort their subjects. Instead, he called Comey’s bluff. He gave it back to him, with shock and denial, and an order to find out where this came from and prove it was false.

Now, you may think Comey failed that day.   No, he failed at blackmail.   But, the meeting was just the first move in a game another man was setting up to play with Trump.   There was one other who had been ordered that, if the blackmail failed, and Trump would not heel, this second man was to get the dossier out.   It was a preemptive strike.   Normally when one is blackmailed and they are going to fight it, they get out in front of cameras, reveal the blackmail data, deny it, and attempt to stop the firestorm before it can even begin.   (Read my earlier Blogs on Marketing strategies on how to stop Black Propaganda being spread about you.)

Whether Trump recognized the blackmail attempt, or whether he still trusted his FBI Director, we will have to wait for his own memoir after he is out of office.  Nonetheless, he did not “play ball” that day.

So, the Director of National Intelligence, who was the second man on the team,  took the story, knowing full well that the Media, and almost every other swamp rat would devour it.  It would bypass all their “this doesn’t pass the smell test warning signs” and they would run with it.  James Clapper “leaked” it to the Press.  He began a black op against the President of the United States. Comey called him after the meeting with the President to say, “Mission accomplished.”   You should ask yourself, “What mission?   What were these people up to?”

In the world I live and write in, they were setting up an elaborate frame–a type of game where Trump could not win.   If he yielded to blackmail, they could control and manipulate every decision he made relevant to their activities, and the activities of others.   If he did not, they would hit him with Black Propaganda missiles from all directions until he fell.

Unfortunately for them, the President did not yield, and he did not fall.

There is still one unanswered question however.   See if you spotted it.  Who sent James Clapper and James Comey to do their deeds? Who masterminded it? Each of those men is cunning, conniving, and self-serving.   They work in a world of lies and shadows. They are hyper confident, and therefore predictable.

One man knew they would join his conspiracy.   He’s a self-centered, above-the-law operator.   Every time you hear him talk or testify, he is so condescending you can almost feel his disdain for you–no matter your politics.   He is not driven by a political philosophy run amok.   He has no ideology other than love of self, and absolute power.

Who?   You ask, who is it?

If you have followed my Blogs, you have seen me call him out a few times.   After I heard him on, if my memory serves me right, CNN in an interview, where he looked straight into camera and threatened the President of the United States with, “Stay tuned Mr. President,” I began to evaluate him just like I did Ayman Al-Zawahiri (mastermind of Al Qaeda).  What I discovered led to the White King Trilogy back then.

I don’t know where the Justice Department’s investigations will lead.   But, I do believe that in “pulling the string,” that string will lead them back to the former CIA Director. (And sadly, and horrifyingly, to the intelligence heads of Australia, Canada, the UK, Italy, and the Ukraine.)

Stay tuned, Mr. Brennan.   I believe that somewhere in Washington, DC a 21st Century Elliot Ness has been hired.  And he is coming for you.

All of this is just my conjecture at this time, of course.   It is my opinion.   But, it is not an uneducated opinion.   You may scoff. That is your prerogative. After all, how could a lowly American citizen be expected to actually spot Bad Guys in the Washington swamp?