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lk2fireone (0)
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| 05-27-18 07:05pm - 2401 days | #768 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User  Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
20-year-old girl suspected of underage drinking spits on cop. So 3 cops push her to the ground, one cop hits her on the back of the head and neck, put her in a choke-hold, handcuff her, while the cops shout: Stop resisting. Is she attacking them? She faces 2 counts of aggravated assault. How did she assault the cops? By spitting on them? How many times did the cops assault the woman? Forcing her to the ground. Hitting her head and neck. A choke hold. Handcuffs. The cops are doing their duty? Beating on a 20-year-old woman? Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. told The Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday that the police soon would release body camera footage showing Weinman insulting the cops and spitting on them. “It wasn’t just that this officer decided to beat her up,” he said. “That wasn’t the case.” That wasn't the case. It seems to be the case. The mayor is either lying, or denying reality. Does a cop have the right to beat on a woman, if she spits on him? Not legally, as far as I can tell. Which might be why the cops were yelling, "Stop resisting". Because that gave them a legal right to beat on her. Except, maybe not. Excessive force is not legal. ------------ ------------ Police and Law Enforcement 4 hours ago NJ officer seen punching woman in the head during arrest at popular beach; police investigate By Frank Miles | Fox News New Jersey officers fight woman at Wildwood beach Officers involved in a violent scuffle with a 20-year-old woman suspected of underage drinking at a New Jersey beach — an incident caught on video — were “reassigned to administrative duty pending the outcome of a full and thorough investigation,” officials said Sunday. Video of the arrest Saturday went viral showing a Wildwood Police officer punching Emily Weinman of Philadelphia twice — once in the head and once in the neck — and putting her in a chokehold. Voices in the background could be heard shouting, “Stop resisting,” according to Fox 29. The police department issued a statement about the arrest on Facebook Sunday, noting: “While Chief [Robert Regalbuto] finds this video to be alarming, he does not want to rush to any judgment until having the final results of the investigation.” Weinman is facing multiple charges, including two counts of aggravated assault on an officer and being a minor in possession of alcohol. She posted about the incident on Facebook, which went viral before being taken down. “I asked them don’t they have something better to do as cops than to stop people for underage drinking on the beach,” she wrote. “Honestly, I can say if I took even a sip, then I would’ve gave them my information and called it a day; I’m underage, so I know better,” she wrote, according to The New York Post. “I know I should’ve gave him my name,” Weinman wrote. “I was partly wrong in a way but I was scared.” She noted: “I tripped and fell and the cop tackled me to the ground and smashed my head into the sand.” “But this whole situation was handled wrongly and blew out of proportion all because these pigs didn’t do their jobs the way they were TRAINED to do so.” Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. told The Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday that the police soon would release body camera footage showing Weinman insulting the cops and spitting on them. “It wasn’t just that this officer decided to beat her up,” he said. “That wasn’t the case.” He added: “We don’t like to see anyone get hit, period. But then again, when you have someone who’s aggressively attacking you or spitting at you. … I wasn’t there. I don’t know.” | |
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| 05-27-18 06:23pm - 2401 days | #767 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Giuliani advises no Mueller interview without informant info. No problem. Slap Trump with a subpoena. Then put Trump in jail until he testifies under oath. They put reporters in jail for refusing to name sources. Put Trump in jail if he refuses to testify under oath. Waterboard the President if he refuses to testify. Since the President has stated he is in favor of waterboarding. Maybe first-hand experience with waterboarding will give him a better idea of what he really likes. The public has a growing awareness that Russians interfered in the election that voted Trump into the White House. Maybe Trump is a fake president, since the election was rigged by the Russians. In which case, Trump should either resign or be impeached. --------- --------- Giuliani advises no Mueller interview without informant info Associated Press Associated Press 3 hours ago FILE - In this May 5, 2018, file photo, Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Donald Trump, speaks in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's legal team would advise that he refuse to submit to an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller unless the team can review classified information shared with select lawmakers about the origins of the FBI investigation into Russia's election meddling, Trump's personal lawyer said Sunday. Rudy Giuliani said that should Mueller's investigators seek a court order to compel the president to testify, Trump's lawyers would fight such a subpoena all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary. "I think we win it," Giuliani said. Giuliani downplayed the chances that Trump would fire Mueller, a Republican who once was FBI director and has served under GOP presidents. Asked if Trump would dismiss anyone if the investigation kept going, Giuliani told "Fox News Sunday" that firings would play "into the hands of playing the victim, Watergate." Giuliani's public negotiation over terms of an interview focuses on the use of a government informant who approached members of Trump's 2016 campaign in a possible bid to glean intelligence on Russian efforts to sway his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump has made unproven claims of FBI misconduct and political bias and has denounced the informant, without evidence, as "a spy." The two meetings with select lawmakers, held last Thursday, were requested by Trump's GOP allies in Congress and arranged by the White House. The president has tried to sow suspicions about the legitimacy of the FBI investigation, and he and his allies have focused on the use of the informant. After the meetings, which included Justice Department, FBI officials, congressional leaders from both parties and Democratic and Republican leaders of the intelligence committees, Democrats said they saw no evidence to support Republican allegations that the FBI acted inappropriately. Nonetheless, Giuliani said the Trump camp wants access to the material presented at those briefings to help prepare the president for a possible interview with Mueller. "If they don't show us these documents, well, we are just going to have to say no," Giuliani said. It's unclear, however, if Trump would heed his lawyers' advice. Justice Department officials didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on whether the president had requested a briefing similar to what was provided to members of Congress last week. In a separate television appearance, Giuliani said Trump was "adamant" about wanting to agree to an interview, saying, "If he wasn't thinking about it and it wasn't an active possibility, we would be finished with that by now and we would have moved on to getting the investigation over with another way." The new wrinkle, he said, if the disclosure about the informant. "We are more convinced, as we see it, that this is a rigged investigation. Now we have this whole new 'Spygate' thing thrown on top of it, on top of already very legitimate questions," he told CNN's "State of the Union." Giuliani also raised the specter of a protracted legal fight over the question of a Trump interview if Mueller decided to seek a subpoena. "What we have to do is go to court and seek protection from the court, if we have to do that. Our first thing is we sure as heck are not going to testify unless it's all straightened out, unless we learned the basis of that Russian investigation," Giuliani told Fox. | |
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| 05-27-18 09:33am - 2402 days | #766 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump loves children. He blames Democrats for separating immigrant kids from their parents. Says the Democrats are responsible for the horrible law that takes kids away from the parents (even though his Administration created and passed the law, Trump believes that the Democrats forced him to do this terrible thing. Trump is a Christ-like figure, who can do no wrong: any evil he does, is forced on him by evil Democrats and other evil people who oppose his loving ways.) --------- --------- HuffPost Trump Unbelievably Rips Dems For Immigrant Kids Being Separated From Parents HuffPost Mary Papenfuss,HuffPost 10 hours ago President Donald Trump has bashed the Democrats for a hugely controversial policy created by his own administration: separating undocumented immigrant children from their parents. He urged Americans in a Saturday morning tweet to “put pressure” on the Democrats to “end the horrible law that separates children from there [sic] parents.” Despite what Trump tweeted, there is no law requiring children to be separated from their parents. The separation policy was adopted by his own administration. It was underscored in a speech in early May by Attorney General Jeff Sessions (in the video above). The policy has been hit with a firestorm of criticism, with some even comparing the increasing dehumanization of immigrants in America as similar to the ugly atmosphere in Germany before the Holocaust. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) took first lady Melania Trump to task in light of her new “Be Best” mission for children. “Separating toddlers from parents is definitely not a ‘Be Best’ policy,” he tweeted. “Are you going to do anything about it?” In chilling Senate testimony last month, a Health and Human Services official said the government was unable to locate nearly 1,500 children who had been released from its custody. Steve Wagner, acting assistant secretary with the Administration for Children and Families of HHS, insisted that the federal agency is “not legally responsible for children” once they’re handed over to a sponsor. Until recently, families that illegally crossed the Mexican border together generally faced civil deportation proceedings. But as of May, the Trump administration is sending all parents to jails run by the U.S. Marshals Service. Because migrant children cannot be held in jails, they are placed elsewhere by the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement. Before the Trump administration, the office handled children who crossed the border alone. White House chief of staff John Kelly, who called the harsh new policy a “technique” and a “tough deterrent,” explained earlier this month to NPR: “They’ll be sent to foster care — or whatever. But the big point is they elected to come illegally into the United States.” CORRECTION: A previous version of this story identified Ted Lieu as a U.S. senator. He is a U.S. representative. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 05-27-18 09:27am - 2402 days | #765 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Is it true that not all Americans love and idolize President Trump? Here is Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Crooked Hilary Clinton, and also the daughter of Wild Bill Clinton (the sex maniac, although Trump himself seems to have had a few sexual adventures). Chelsea does not seem to admire Trump. ------------ ------------ Chelsea Clinton: Trump Degrades 'What It Means To Be An American' HuffPost Hayley Miller,HuffPost 2 hours 3 minutes ago Chelsea Clinton skewered President Donald Trump’s character in a recent interview, accusing him of degrading “what it means to be an American.” Clinton, a philanthropist and the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, tore into Trump when asked about his planned July visit to Britain during an interview published Saturday in The Guardian. “If I lived in Britain I would show up to protest, because I don’t agree with what he’s doing to degrade what it means to be an American,” Clinton said. Clinton, 38, also told the newspaper that she’s been the target of “vitriol” for as long as she could remember and credited Trump for prompting her decision to start firing back at people who say “hateful” things to her. “The reason, now, I no longer ignore it when people say hateful things to me on the street or on social media is, I think we have to shine a light,” Clinton said. “I think those of us who have platforms to do that have to say this is wrong and unacceptable, so we don’t normalize it but try to detoxify what has been unleashed,” she said. “Because if we don’t, we leave a vacuum. And I think the darkness fills that vacuum.” Trump has continued to call for Hillary Clinton, his 2016 election opponent, to be jailed for her e-mail practices as secretary of state, even though the FBI almost two years ago concluded no charges were warranted. The president has also mocked women’s appearances and promoted bigoted views. “I think that the way that our president and many people around him have not only mainstreamed hate, but mainlined it, is so deeply dangerous,” Clinton said. “I think the wreckage that we’re seeing at this moment is one that will, I hope, be repaired on the policy standpoint when we elect Democrats,” she continued. “But I think we will still then have work to do on repairing the tone in our country, the exposure of the real racist and sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic feeling which is on the rise in our country ― a rot that has been exposed.” Clinton praised the “hugely important” First Amendment, but said “freedom of speech” doesn’t mean there should be a “freedom of consequences.” “Sure, you should not be in prison because you said something racist,” Clinton said. “But you also shouldn’t be able to run for president. And yet here we are.” This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 05-27-18 09:16am - 2402 days | #764 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump, the President whose administration is the most corrupt in America's history, who enjoys diverting money from the poor and middle class and giving it to the rich and corporations, is now trying to show he has a softer side: He mourns the "Young And Beautiful Lives Destroyed By Russia Probe". Of course, the Russia Probe is an investigation into illegal activity. But Trump does not seem to understand this. He is tough on criminals. He wants them in jail or dead. But his allies are not criminals. Even if they have done criminal acts, they are still not criminals. They are young, beautiful people, who deserve whatever money they can steal. They are beautiful people, who should be proud of being above the law that rules the peons of the US. Trump's people are free to kill or cheat or steal, all in the name of making America great again. But Trump's enemies are not beautiful people: Crooked Hilary, Crazy Joe Biden, Leakin' James Comey, and many others belong in jail or should be thrown out of the country: Making America great again means getting rid of the garbage. (Trump has stated repeatedly that he loves all his fellow citizens. Except some citizens deserve tough love-which might explain why he is so tough on Hilary Clinton and Comey and other enemies.) ----------- ----------- Politics Trump Mourns 'Young And Beautiful' Lives 'Destroyed' By Russia Probe HuffPost Hayley Miller,HuffPost 1 hour 4 minutes ago President Donald Trump on Sunday lamented the lives “devastated” by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. In his latest attempt to discredit the federal probe, Trump tweeted that the “young and beautiful lives” allegedly “destroyed” by the “Russia Collusion Witch Hunt” had “journeyed to Washington, D.C., with stars in their eyes.” “They went back home in tatters!” he tweeted. It’s unclear who Trump was referring to in his tweet, though at least 19 people have been charged in Mueller’s investigation, which began in May 2017. Michael Flynn, 59, who served as Trump’s national security adviser for a month before his ouster, was the first person inside the president’s administration to be indicted in the probe. He pleaded guilty in December to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian government. Paul Manafort, 69, a former Trump campaign chairman, has been indicted on multiple criminal charges, including conspiring to launder money and bank fraud. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Several other Trump associates, including Rick Gates, 46, a former deputy chairman of Trump’s campaign, and George Papadopoulos, 30, a former Trump campaign adviser, have pleaded guilty to charges related to the probe and have agreed to cooperate with Mueller. Trump has repeatedly tried to undermine Mueller’s investigation, tweeting May 20 that “real Americans” should “get tough” on the probe. Still, the majority of Americans have said they support the probe into possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, according to a poll conducted in April by The Washington Post and ABC News. | |
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| 05-26-18 08:46pm - 2402 days | #763 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
What would Trump do? A cop shoots and kills another cop. Trump should give the dead cop a brutal tweet: that cop was a loser. Trump only admires winners. And Trump should give the killer cop 2 thumbs up: because Trump admires winners, and the killer cop was obviously the winner. ---------- ---------- This is not right. A cop shoots and kills a suspect. The suspect turns out to be the cop's brother, who is also a cop. But what is not right: The cop who shot and killed his brother has been charged with murder. This is not only not right, but also unbelievable: Cops can shoot unarmed civilians, and are sometimes put on paid leave while the shooting is investigated. But that is only sometimes. More often, you read that the cop who did the shooting is never charged with any crime. Even when the victim was unarmed. So why is this cop being charged with murder? Just because the guy he killed was another cop? Cops should have the right to kill other cops: especially if they think the other cops are doing something wrong. And I've read reports where the cop who was killed was breaking into his brother's house. So the cop who fired was obviously in fear of his life. And that alone, justifies shooting the suspect. -------- -------- Brother charged with murder after shooting Harris County deputy in apparent domestic dispute Stagecoach officer accused of killing his brother, Christine Dobbyn reports. By Pooja Lodhia Saturday, May 26, 2018 06:31PM STAGECOACH, Texas (KTRK) -- A Stagecoach police officer has been charged with murder after killing his brother, a Harris County deputy, Friday night. Robert Lee was booked into the Montgomery County Jail last night and charged with murder. A Harris County deputy was killed by his brother Friday night inside a Montgomery County home. Investigators said the body of Harris County deputy Rocky Lee, 57 was found in a bathroom after being shot multiple times. The Stagecoach police officer was treated for medical issues and is cooperating with law enforcement. Hours after the shooting, the Harris County Sheriff's Office asked for prayers for the family of the deputy. "This evening, was a tragic situation especially when you are talking about circumstances involving two brothers," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. The shooting is still under investigation. The Harris County Deputies' Organization released the following statement in regards to the tragedy: Open Letter to Our Members and the Public Today we are in mourning for the shooting death of Deputy Rocky Lee. We are confident in the ongoing investigation by the Texas Rangers, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, and Montgomery County officials. A tragedy such as this always shakes the law enforcement community. Our prayers are with Deputy Lee's family and with our brothers and sisters in blue, especially those who have served with Deputy Lee. | |
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| 05-26-18 07:11pm - 2402 days | #762 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Clapper: 'More and more' of Steele dossier proving to be true By John Bowden - 05/26/18 03:23 PM EDT Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said more of the so-called Steele dossier's claims are proving to be true. In an interview with Salon, Clapper said the dossier, part of which lays out alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, has been corroborated by subsequent U.S. investigations. The Obama-era intelligence chief stressed that while the most "salacious" claims in the dossier have not been proven to be true, "more and more" of the dossier's other allegations about President Trump and his allies' ties to Russia have been backed up over time. "Some of what was in the dossier was actually corroborated — but separately — in our intelligence community assessment, from other sources that we were confident in," Clapper said. "The salacious parts, no. That’s never been corroborated," he added. "It would appear to me that as time has gone on more and more of it has been corroborated, but I can’t actually give you a percentage." The dossier, which was created by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele as part of his work for political intelligence firm Fusion GPS, had circulated in media circles before being published in full by BuzzFeed News in January 2017. Clapper stressed that the dossier was never used as a source for the 2017 intelligence community assessment that stated the Russians interfered in the election for the purpose of damaging Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and aiding Trump. "Well, some of what was in the dossier … first of all, I need to make an important point here. We did not use the dossier as a source for the intelligence community assessment, that’s point one," Clapper said. "The dossier is not classified or an intelligence document," he continued. "It’s actually a collection of 17 separate memos." Republicans have frequently pointed to the dossier as proof that the FBI investigation into Trump's campaign began with political motivations, as the Fusion GPS investigation was funded in part by lawyers for the DNC and the Clinton campaign. Trump has erroneously accused the FBI and Clapper over the last several days of planting a spy in his campaign after it was revealed the agency used a confidential informant to contact several members of the Trump campaign. | |
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| 05-26-18 02:27pm - 2402 days | #4 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Are the Star Wars movies losing their magic? The newest Star Wars movie has a disappointing opening. ----------- ----------- Variety.com May 26, 2018 9:02AM PT Box Office: ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Headed for Underwhelming Holiday Weekend Debut By Erin Nyren “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is struggling to make the kind of opening weekend impact now expected from a Star Wars film, with an estimated $114 million from 4,381 domestic sites over the four-day Memorial Day weekend. Earlier estimates had pegged the film in the $130-$150 million range. “Solo” earned about $35.6 million through Friday, including $14.1 million from Thursday grosses, the highest Thursday for a Memorial Day opener. But a $114 million opening would have “Solo” trailing the three-day debut of the last anthology film, “Rogue One,” by $41 million — to say nothing of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s” $220 million opening. The Disney-Lucasfilm venture is the 10th Star Wars movie and fourth from Disney in less than four years. Should the holiday estimate hold for “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” it will raise questions about franchise fatigue and Disney’s strategy of opening the tentpole a mere five months after “The Last Jedi” debuted on Dec. 16. At $114 million, “Solo” would be the fifth-biggest film to open on Memorial Day weekend. Disney’s 2007 release “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” currently holds that title with $139.8 million, followed by “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and “Fast and Furious 6,” with $117 million. “Solo” follows Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo, who befriends his future co-pilot Chewbacca and meets the gambler Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover). Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Paul Bettany, Joonas Suotamo, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge round out the cast. Ron Howard directed from a screenplay by Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan. Howard replaced the directing team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who left the project in June, citing “creative differences.” Critics have been mostly positive about the film, which holds a current 71% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. Fox’s “Deadpool 2” will likely nab the second place slot in its sophomore weekend with $54.5 million from 4,349 theaters. The addition should give the “Deadpool” sequel an 11-day total of around $220 million. Starring Ryan Reynolds, “Deadpool 2” sees the titular antihero forming the X-Force in an effort to save a young mutant from Josh Brolin’s Cable. Third place is slated to go to “Avengers: Infinity War” in its fifth frame, with $21 million from 3,768 locations. “Infinity War” has earned $1.8 billion worldwide in its first 28 days, with $605 million from domestic grosses. This weekend’s take should push “Infinity War’s” domestic total past “Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s” $620 million and “The Avengers'” $623 million to land the No. 6 slot on the all time domestic earners list. The second weekend of Paramount’s “Book Club” should land in fourth with $12 million from 2,810 theaters. The Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen, Candace Bergen, and Diane Keaton-starrer has earned $22 million in its first week at multiplexes. The four women star as book club participants who decide to shake up their lives after reading “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Warner Bros.’ “Life of the Party” is likely to land the fifth place title in its third frame, with about $6 million from 2,937 sites. Melissa McCarthy stars in the Mother Day’s opener, which has earned $33 million domestically in its first two weeks. She plays a recently divorced mom who goes back to school at her daughter’s college. | |
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| 05-25-18 08:37pm - 2403 days | #761 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
USA TODAY Navy graduates deride 'physical coward' Trump ahead of Academy commencement address William Cummings, USA TODAY Published 5:35 p.m. ET May 25, 2018 | Updated 10:09 p.m. ET May 25, 2018 President Donald Trump addressed the 2018 graduates of the United States Naval Academy Friday, telling them the military rebuilding has begun and they are now leaders in the "most powerful and righteous force on the planet." (May 25) AP Two graduates of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., penned an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun questioning President Trump's suitability to deliver the commencement speech to this year's graduating class of midshipmen on Friday. "It is right and fitting that the president of the United States give a commencement address to a service academy’s graduating class," Daniel Barkhuff and William Burke wrote in Wednesday's edition of the paper. "It is also right and fitting that citizens of the democracy for which these graduates will soon be charged with protecting point out the personal cowardice, narcissism and incompetency of the current president." Barkhuff and Burke graduated from the Academy in 2001. They now work at Veterans for Responsible Leadership. They wrote of the sacrifices made by various Naval Academy graduates, such as Sen. John McCain, over the years. "Contrast this to the personal and professional honor of the sitting president of the United States, who time and again makes small choices guided by self-interest, ego, impulse and immediate self-gratification," they wrote. "He could never do what we ask our U.S. Naval Academy graduates to do. He is a physical coward, a liar and no leader at all." If their opinion reached Trump, it had no impact on the enthusiastic tone of his address. "America is back," Trump told the graduates. "We are witnessing the great reawakening of the American spirit and of American might." Trump also told them that, "In case you haven’t noticed, we have become a lot stronger lately." | |
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| 05-25-18 08:09pm - 2403 days | #760 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump working hard to make the federal government more efficient. He signed executive orders making it easier to fire federal workers, and cut funding and power for federal unions. --------- --------- Trump makes it easier to fire federal workers, cuts union powers By Alexander Mallin May 25, 2018, 8:21 PM ET President Trump signed executive orders Friday that take aim at what White House officials described as an overly bureaucratic and extensive process of firing “poorly performing” civil servants. The orders would also limit the power and funding from the federal unions set up to protect them. The head of the largest federal workers' union said the Trump administration "seems hellbent on replacing a civil service that works for all taxpayers with a political service that serves at its whim." In a call with reporters, administration officials described the three executive orders taking a wide variety of actions, including rolling back the amount of time that "poorly performing" civil servants have to correct their behavior before being fired – and making it harder for fired workers to move to a separate agency. A second executive order will create a federal 'Labor Relations Working Group' intended to analyze government contracts with federal unions and remove "wasteful expenditures." The third executive order restricts the amount of time federal employees can spend on "union work," and aims to charge federal unions for rent space in federal buildings and eliminates their ability to expense their travel to the government. The order will also halt payments to unions specifically related to their time lobbying Congress. The officials pushed back on the idea that the moves were politically motivated, insisting that it was more about increasing efficiency in government and saving taxpayer dollars. “This executive order is about promoting better use of taxpayer dollars and helping support the hundreds of thousands of federal civil servants that come to work every day to do a great job on behalf of their country and have consistently said the government's inability to effectively manage poor performing employees is a problem,” one official said. “We don't view this as an administration as a particularly political issue.” White House Director of the Domestic Policy Council Andrew Bremberg said in a statement that the orders are in line with the public opinion inside the civil service itself. "Every year the federal employee viewpoint survey has consistently shown that less than one-third of federal employees believe that poor performers are adequately addressed by their agency," Bremberg said. "These executive orders will make it easier for agencies to remove poor performing employees and ensure that taxpayer dollars are more efficiently used." Federal worker unions quickly objected. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 700,000 federal workers, issued a statement saying "President Trump is attempting to silence the voice of veterans, law enforcement officers, and other frontline federal workers through a series of executive orders intended to strip federal employees of their decades-old right to representation at the worksite." "This is more than union busting – it's democracy busting," AFGE National President J. David Cox said in the statement. "These executive orders are a direct assault on the legal rights and protections that Congress has specifically guaranteed to the 2 million public-sector employees across the country who work for the federal government." As for the amount of taxpayer dollars saved as a result of the orders, the officials said their current estimates predict that it will save taxpayers “at least $100 million” annually." They could not say just how many civil servants would be cut from the federal government as a result of the orders. | |
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| 05-25-18 12:43pm - 2403 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Sports Brazilian soccer legend wants to marry his 2 girlfriends at the same time — but is that even legal? Yahoo Lifestyle Korin Miller,Yahoo Lifestyle 23 hours ago Polyamory is on the rise, and there’s one more group planning to make things official — Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldinho and his “fiancées,” Priscilla Coelho and Beatriz Souza. The three, who have been living “harmoniously” in the soccer star’s Rio de Janeiro mansion since December, plan to tie the knot this summer in one ceremony, according to Brazil’s O Dia newspaper. Ronaldinho reportedly started dating Coelho a few years before he began seeing Souza in 2016. The women reportedly receive an “allowance” from Ronaldinho of about $2,000, and he always gives them the exact same presents, including matching perfumes. Ronaldinho has never publicly confirmed his relationships with his fianceés, but he travels with them to almost every event he attends, O Dia says. For the record, polygamy is illegal in Brazil. However, there is a precedent: Three people entered into a civil union in 2012 in Brazil that was approved, per the Week. (The rationale was that the three people don’t have any privileges of marriage — they just share an address and bank account.) Polygamy is also illegal in the United States, Mae Kuykendall, a professor of law at Michigan State University, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “No American state validates marriages entered into by more than two people,” she says. Utah tried to criminalize polygamous arrangements, but a federal court ruled the law unconstitutional because it applied to voluntary living arrangements, she points out. “Nonetheless, states in the past have had criminal statutes directed at officially authorized marriages between two people of the same sex,” she says. Using multiple marriage licenses by anyone to enter into a legal marriage with more than one person can be treated as criminal in the U.S., Kuykendall says. “Bigamy statutes are, on the face, applicable, though bigamy has traditionally been seen as a problem of fraud, not consensual arrangements,” she says. In a nutshell, no state in the U.S. will give any person more than one marriage license, so marriage to more than one person at a time is not legal anywhere in the U.S. However, polygamy is legal in some countries, including India, the Philippines, and Nigeria. Of course, there are potential emotional hurdles to consider as well. Given that polyamorous relationships aren’t the norm, people are usually left to their own personal experiences to figure out how to navigate pitfalls and challenges in their relationships, as well as to try to build a successful relationship, Manhattan-based licensed clinical psychologist Joseph Cilona tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “There are typically few models to turn to for inspiration and possible answers, and few resources, including professional resources, that can provide sound information, guidance, advice, and strategies,” he says. “This unfortunate fact may be considered one of the most significant challenges for those in polyamorous marriages.” There are also three people’s needs to consider in this kind of relationship, which can be challenging, Stephen Snyder, MD, author of the book Love Worth Making, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “That ordinarily requires a lot of time and energy, and very few people have that kind of time and energy,” he says. That doesn’t mean polyamory doesn’t create valid relationships. “Ultimately, polyamory is as legitimate a relationship structure as any other, but it’s a different mindset than what is traditional in most cultures,” licensed clinical psychologist Ramani Durvasula, author of Should I Stay or Should I Go?, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. People in polyamorous relationships may struggle with emotions such as jealousy and insecurity, but Durvasula says it’s difficult to figure out how much of that comes from true biological need or from society. Ultimately, some trios can make it work, Durvasula says, adding, “I’m a big believer in ‘If it works for them, then no judgment whatsoever.'” Ronaldinho and his two fiancées reportedly plan to get married in August. | |
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| 05-25-18 12:27pm - 2403 days | #759 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Security firm was ordered to pay $1 billion to a woman who was raped by one of its security guards. The fine seems more symbolic than real. The security firm has been dissolved. So I assume there is little or no money left at the security firm. -------- -------- Security firm ordered to pay $1bn after guard raped teenage girl The Independent Agencies,The Independent 23 hours ago A jury has awarded the victim $1bn damages: iStock A security company has been told by a jury to pay $1bn (£750m) to woman who was raped by one of its guards when she was 14-years-old. Hope Cheston was with her boyfriend outside a party in Atlanta, Georgia in October 2012, when the armed security guard approached, her attorney said. The guard told the boyfriend not to move and raped Ms Cheston. While the media never normally identify victims of rape – and it would be illegal to do so in a British case - but Ms Cheston, now 20, waived her anonymity. The full-time college student who plans to spend her summer working with an organisation in Atlanta that helps homeless people, said she wanted her story to provide strength for other sexual-assault victims. The guard, identified in the lawsuit as Brandon Lamar Zachary, is serving a 20-year prison sentence, according to online prison records. Ms Cheston’s mother, Renatta Cheston-Thornton, filed a lawsuit in 2015 on behalf of her daughter. The jury has now handed down the verdict against Crime Prevention Agency, the security company that employed Zachary. Zachary, who was 22 at the time, should never have been hired because he wasn’t licensed as an armed guard, attorney L Chris Stewart Stewart said. The judge had already determined the security company was liable, so the jury was only determining damages, Stewart said. After reading the verdict, jurors immediately left the jury box — without waiting for the judge’s permission — to hug Ms Cheston and her mother. Attempts to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful. Online corporate registration information for Crime Prevention Agency shows that it was dissolved in 2016. The phone at a number listed online for Mario Watts, who is named on the corporate registration as the CEO and identified in the lawsuit as the company’s registered agent, were unanswered. A lot of women who suffer sexual assault don’t pursue justice, choosing instead to put it behind them, Ms Cheston said. “I feel like my case is just to show that you may not get it immediately, but you will get what you’re worth. This shows that people do care about the worth of a woman.” Mr Stewart said: “I was really proud of the jury because there is no basis in the legal world for how high a rape verdict can be,” he said. Verdicts in the tens of millions of dollars, or even hundreds of millions, are not uncommon, Jeff Dion, director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association said in an email. But he’s never heard of a $1bn verdict in a case with a single victim. | |
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| 05-25-18 12:14pm - 2403 days | #758 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Can you say graft? Days after China signed an agreement to spend $500 million on a Trump project, with another $500 million from China banks possible, Trump tells Congress there is a deal to save ZTE, a China phone company that was sanctioned by the US last month. The sanctions would have put ZTE out of business. How much will Trump make from the Trump project? He's not telling. That's his private business, which he still owns, while acting as President of the US. No other US president in modern history has made as much in office as Donald Trump. -------- -------- Business Trump administration tells Congress it has deal to save ZTE Engadget Jon Fingas,Engadget 33 minutes ago The US government should soon act on its promise to give ZTE another chance following its revived export ban. The New York Times has learned that the Trump administration has informed Congress of a Commerce Department deal that would let ZTE take American exports as long as it accepted new penalties. It would have to pay a "substantial" fine, shake up its management team and hire American compliance officers to keep it on the straight and narrow. The deal could be as public as soon as May 25th (today if you're reading in time), but it's otherwise expected "soon." If a deal like this goes forward, it could trigger a furor in Congress. The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would prevent the US from making a deal with ZTE, while a bipartisan group of senators (including Chuck Schumer and Marco Rubio) have insisted that the administration maintain the ban as a matter of law enforcement and security. ZTE faced the renewed ban after it allegedly reneged on promises to punish workers for illegally shipping telecom hardware to Iran and North Korea, so another deal could be seen as going soft on the company. Whatever happens, ZTE doesn't have many bargaining chips. It suspended operations after the first ban, since its heavy dependence on American components (such as Qualcomm Snapdragon processors for phones) left it with a grim future where it either couldn't offer certain products at all or would be at a competitive disadvantage. However much it dislikes a given ideal, it might have to say yes for the sake of survival. New York Times This article originally appeared on Engadget. | |
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| 05-25-18 11:50am - 2403 days | #757 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
World Russia Just Fired a Missile Further Than Anyone Before and No One Noticed Newsweek Brendan Cole,Newsweek 8 hours ago Russia has test-fired a surface-to-air missile 50 miles further than anyone has before, U.S. intelligence sources have revealed. With little fanfare, Russia successfully used the S-500 surface-to-air missile system to hit a target 299 miles away, which is 50 miles further than any known test, CNBC reported. Moscow says that the system can intercept hypersonic missiles, drones and stealth warplanes like the F-22 and the F-35 and would allow it to destroy targets at near space range. The test used a modified version of the missile used in the S-300V4 surface-to-air system. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier in May that he wanted to prepare the S-500 systems for mass production, giving Moscow the ability to engage multiple targets, state news agency TASS reported. RTX3GSU2 Vladimir Putin watches the Zapad-2017 war games, held by Russian and Belarussian servicemen, with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (L) and Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov (2nd R) . Russia has reportedly successfully test fired the S-500 surface-to-air missile. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS He also announced Moscow would modernize its strategic nuclear forces and rearm 14 regiments with the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile systems by the end of the year. The military display comes after U.S. intelligence experts said last week that Moscow will have the hypersonic glide vehicle called Avangard ready by 2020. Able to carry a nuclear warhead and glide at the top of the atmosphere, it is believed that no country can defend against it. CNBC reported that it had been successfully tested twice in 2016. Also this week, Russia’s ballistic missile submarine Yuri Dolgoruky tested four Bulava nuclear-capable missiles, unleashing them within 20 seconds. Russia’s Defence Ministry said that the test salvo on May 22 targeted the Kura shooting range on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Most popular: ‘Dangerous’ MS-13 Gang Member Accused of Violent Texas Murder Caught in South Carolina The Bulava missiles can carry multiple nuclear warheads and can reach a range of around 5,700 miles. Information about Russia’s missile capabilities emerged after it was reported that a Russian-owned surface-to-air missile downed the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014 over eastern Ukraine. Moscow has denied responsibility. This article was first written by Newsweek | |
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| 05-25-18 11:44am - 2403 days | #756 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Pruitt spent $3.5 million on security during first year as EPA head By Miranda Green and Justin Wise - 05/25/18 12:51 PM EDT Pruitt spent $3.5 million on security during first year as EPA head  Greg NashScott Pruitt spent nearly $3.5 million on security during his first year as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to an agency breakdown released Friday. Pruitt's round the clock security detail racked up the high costs through both travel and payroll expenses — costing taxpayers more than $760,000 in travel and more than $2.7 million in pay during the administrator's first year. The costs for his detail, which have accompanied Pruitt on both international trips like Morocco and Italy and to Disneyland and the Rose Bowl, are significantly higher than the amounts previous administrators spent, the data shows. In comparison, EPA spent just $1.6 million on security for former EPA head Gina McCarthy during her last year in the post. The EPA maintains that Pruitt's increased security is necessary due to higher threats against the administrator. “Administrator Pruitt has faced an unprecedented amount of death threats against him and to provide transparency EPA will post the costs of his security detail and pro-actively release these numbers on a quarterly basis," EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement. "Americans should all agree that members of the President’s cabinet should be kept safe from violent threats.” However, Pruitt has recently been challenged for his claims that the security detail is a response to security risks following reports that he received 24/7 security starting his first day in office. Internal emails obtained by The Hill showed that the Trump transition team set up security due to fears that Pruitt's anticipated iron fist against EPA regulations could generate public ire. The revelation about Pruitt’s security spending is the latest in a string of expenditures that have been made public this year. On Wednesday, The Hill reported that an internal document showed Pruitt spent at least $9,600 on office furnishing that included Smithsonian artwork, a refurbished desk and other framed items. Pruitt’s travel spending has also been the subject of intense criticism. In March, Politico reported that he spent $105,000 on first-class airline travel during his first year. Pruitt in testimony to Congress dismissed the controversies swirling around him as "fiction" pushed by opponents of his agenda. | |
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| 05-25-18 11:36am - 2403 days | #755 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
All The Biggest Scandals of the Trump Administration, the New Gold Standard for Corruption Eric Schaal May 23, 2018 Do you feel like the stories of corruption in the Donald Trump White House are too numerous to count? You’re not alone: Unless you can juggle 20-30 stories at a time, there’s no way you could possibly keep tabs on this group. You might think people like Betsy DeVos and Ben Carson are unqualified to do the job they went to Washington to do, but nearly all members of the Trump Cabinet have shown expertise in burning through taxpayer money. In some cases, it almost seems like they have contempt for the job and the people they were meant to serve. Here are the 15 most corrupt acts we’ve seen from the Trump White House, ranked. 15. Scott Pruitt’s $43K privacy box Scott Pruitt Many people were outraged upon learning that EPA head Scott Pruitt spent $25,000 on a soundproof box inside his office. It sounded paranoid, wasteful, and stupid all at once. However, it turned out that $25,000 was a low estimate — it actually cost $43,000 once the final bill was processed. It makes you wonder why he needs to communicate in secret when no one else in the history of the office had that need. 14. Ben Carson’ $31K dining set Speaking of things Trump Cabinet officials don’t need, there was a $31,000 dining table set HUD Secretary Ben Carson had installed in his department offices. When confronted with the amount in February, Carson said he had no knowledge of it and claimed “surprise” at the amount. Later, when CNN obtained emails proving Carson was lying, it was another black eye for the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Carson’s claim that journalists “will continue to probe and make further accusations even without evidence or substantiation” sounded like utter nonsense. 13. Kellyanne Conway’s pitch for Ivanka products Does it get more corrupt than using the White House to advertise products sold by the president’s daughter — when the president’s unqualified daughter actually works in the White House? It’s a funhouse mirror of abusing power and unethical behavior. This bit of corruption was followed by two violations of the Hatch Act by Kellyanne Conway in 2017, but that’s only if you’re keeping score at home. The White House isn’t. 12. The VA Secretary’s European vacation US Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin Nothing says “I’m doing my Veterans’ Affairs job” like accepting tickets to Wimbledon as a gift and flying your wife to Europe on the taxpayers’ dime. VA Secretary David Shulkin did all that and more, running up a bill exceeding $120,000 in summer 2017. When confronted by a Senate Committee on Capitol Hill, Shulkin said he agreed “the optics” weren’t good. The takeaway would be “unethical behavior is fine as long as the optics are good.” 11. Ryan Zinke’s $139K office doors At Western Values Project, you can read up on all the inside deals Ryan Zinke made in his first year as Secretary of the Interior. Out favorite is Zinke’s first financial supporter landing a National Parks Services contract a short time after the secretary took office and met with his donor. (Quid, meet quo.) But the story only begins there. Zinke’s lust for helicopter travel and private planes make him one of the more expensive members of Trump’s pricey Cabinet. Plus, he is spending $139,000 on three sets of doors at Interior. 10. The $130K payoff to a porn star Would news of an extramarital affair with a porn star bring down the Trump campaign? America will never know, because Trump paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about the affair right before the election. When porn star payoffs barely crack the top 10, you get an idea of the state of this administration in 2018. 9. Tom Price’s $1 million in travel expenses For those who thought a few hundred thousand dollars extra in plane travel was peanuts, we present Tom Price. Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services once bought stock in a company before writing a bill to benefit the same company. (He tripled his money.) Later, when he took his corrupt ways inside the White House, he focused on luxury private travel, costing taxpayers over $1 million in six months before his resignation. 8. Foreign visitors and GOP fundraising at Trump hotels What if every visitor from every foreign government had the chance to put money in the president’s pocket every night? That’s what happens when people stay at Trump’s D.C. hotel, which before 2017 was off-limits for anyone holding office in the U.S. government. It’s also what happens when U.S. politicians and candidates hold fundraisers in Mar-a-Lago. Later, when asking for a favor or endorsement, all Trump has to do is ask whether the person went to his hotels and how much they spent. 7. Pruitt’s $833K on security and ‘side jobs’ for EPA aides When you spend most of your professional life suing the EPA, it must be strange to find yourself in charge of the same agency. To rationalize the shift, Pruitt has continued trying to undermine the agency at every chance. For example, he spent $833,000 on security in his first three months on the job — about double what his predecessors did. Meanwhile, two of Pruitt’s lieutenants recently got cleared to work for public companies while holding their day job at the EPA. Unfortunately, the public won’t know which companies get that privilege, but why would a “GOP political consultant” working for Pruitt do anything unethical? 6. Trump’s 2,400 lies — and counting Trump said he would be the “jobs president,” and there’s no question he’s giving the fact-checking industry a major bump. Between the start of his presidency (January 2017) and March 2018, Trump had already told 2,436 lies. We don’t feel any need to elaborate here. When the president abandons the truth to gain whatever advantage he can (about firing the FBI Director, the FBI Deputy Director, Special Counsel Mueller, etc.), it sinks the country to the level of a banana republic. 5. Steve Mnuchin’s $1 million on travel Though he tried to get a military jet for his honeymoon, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was denied use of the plane. However, that was one of the few times. A Politico report from March 2018 revealed Mnuchin’s private jet travel (eight trips) cost $1 million in taxpayer funds. The best part about Mnuchin’s travel is the shamelessness of it. After arguing with reporters about the costs, Treasury staff said he would be taking another military jet to Argentina in the third week of March. Based on military flight estimates of $25,000 per hour, that trip will exceed $300,000 each way. 4. Trump’s golf trips to his own resorts There are thousands of beautiful golf clubs in America. Isn’t it strange that Trump only goes to the ones he owns? When you think about it, it’s normal for someone who spends every day of his presidency profiting off his position. For example, when Trump visits his own resorts, Secret Service agents have to pay his company thousands to rent golf carts in order to protect him. If Trump picked another golf course, they’d still have to pay for golf carts — the only difference is, he wouldn’t personally profit off the rentals. Meanwhile, taxpayers have to foot the bill — currently near $60 million over 14 months — to take Trump and his family from the White House to Florida. 3. Jared Kushner’s failed background check and massive debts Most of America didn’t have any idea who Jared Kushner was before he ended up in the White House. There’s a good reason for that: Kushner is neither an elected official nor a talented businessman. His only qualification was marrying Trump’s daughter Ivanka. But this blatant act of nepotism is only the start. Kushner’s massive real estate debt, which resulted from a bad building purchase, clearly has implications for foreign policy. That would explain why Kushner couldn’t get a top security clearance after a full year in the White House. However, it doesn’t explain why he has access to sensitive materials in the presidential daily briefing, which he often read to Trump. 2. Michael Flynn, Trump’s NSA, getting paid by Russia and Turkey While many have been corrupt, a select few of Trump’s team pushed it into treasonous territory. That’s where Michael Flynn, who was on the payroll of both Russia and Turkey while dealing with Trump, went in late 2016. Flynn may have betrayed his country of birth (i.e., America) by telling the Russian ambassador he’d work on getting sanctions lightened or dropped. Hey, when you take Putin’s money, you have to fulfill your end of the bargain, or you might end up among the many who died from poisoning. 1. The GOP tax plan Follow the money paying for the GOP tax plan and you’ll find lots of layoffs, Congress member kickbacks, lost health care coverage, and record deficits. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images For a while, Wall Street bankers like Jamie Dimon and Gary Cohn held their noses and pretended things in the White House were normal. It was all about the GOP tax plan, which is becoming known as the biggest looting in Washington D.C. history. Once they got their money, the Wall St. gang couldn’t run away fast enough. Whether you count the billions corporations and the world’s richest men got — or just the tens of millions going to Trump, Senator Bob Corker, and others — this corrupt act will haunt America for generations. (The layoffs have already begun.) How did every U.S. corporation get a fat 40% tax cut while millions of Americans saw their taxes go up? Lobbyists went wild all across D.C. in 2017, and their money spread from Paul Ryan’s office through the Trump Cabinet. | |
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| 05-25-18 11:15am - 2403 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
@Amanda, you didn't say if you enjoyed Solo. Was it an outstanding Star Wars film, just OK, or disappointing for you? Like I said, I have only seen the first Star Wars movie. But this weekend, I am thinking I might see the new Solo movie, or I might see Deadpool 2. My level of anticipation is not very high for either one. The last 2 Comic Book movies I really enjoyed were Captain America (the first one, where the Captain is battling evil Nazis) and Wonder Woman, where Wonder Woman is also battling evil Nazis. I just realized: with both Captain America and Wonder Woman on the job, the Nazis never had a chance. Maybe if Solo is sent back in time, to battle Hitler, the movie might have more meaning, for me. Because that would be a case where you fight the villain, he is defeated or dies, and the hero wins. | |
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| 05-25-18 10:47am - 2404 days | #754 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: (Meanderings of a conflicted mind): Trump confesses. "The guilt is too much. I admit I am a mole for Putin, my master. That is why my tweets are full of lies and contradictions: my mind is breaking down, since I can no longer visit my master in person: the security is too tight, now that I am President. Will my confession cleanse my soul, and allow me to worship Putin, the god-like master of Russia and the entire universe? Bow down before Putin, and bow down before me, because I am the voice and left hand of Putin!" "So even though I am claiming there was a "spy" in the Trump campaign, the spy was me. The joke is on the FBI, the CIA, and the American public. Who were gullible enough to elect me President of the United States. God bless Russia, the Motherland." "One more thing: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s is my ally in the Senate. He is also a paid informant for the Russian secret police. His rank is General of the Soviet Army. Do not attempt to arrest him, unless you have a platoon of SEAL soldiers. McConnell is a trained assassin, who will never be taken alive." ---------- ---------- 'That’s ridiculous': Key Obama adviser dismisses Trump's 'Spygate' claim Michael Isikoff 5 hours ago The woman who oversaw the Obama White House’s response to the Russian election attack said she was never briefed on the FBI’s use of an informant to investigate the Trump campaign and that it was “ridiculous” for President Trump to claim that the matter amounted to “one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history.” Avril Haines, who served as deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration, made the comments during an exclusive interview with the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery.” In her first first full-length interview since leaving government, Haines also said she had been “very concerned” in 2016 about the degree to which Russians might have gained “influence” within the Trump campaign — concerns that were fueled by Trump’s public comments about Putin that she found “wildly disconnected from reality.” “No, absolutely not,” Haines said when asked if she was ever told about the confidential FBI informant who made contact with three members of the Trump campaign. “We didn’t even know at the time there was an [FBI] investigation as such,” she said. Haines said the FBI briefed the National Security Council “on a regular basis” about what she termed “counterintelligence issues” but that it had not told the council that any formal probe of the Trump campaign had been initiated. Over the past week, Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed that the “Obama administration” had planted a “spy” inside the Trump campaign for political purposes, prompting them to demand that the Justice Department and FBI turn over documents about a confidential informant – a former University of Cambridge professor — who had contacted three campaign advisers. Law enforcement officials have countered that using such informants amid counterintelligence investigations — which the FBI had launched in late July 2016 into Russian efforts to penetrate the Trump campaign — is standard procedure. Asked about one of Trump’s tweets referring to the use of the informant as “Spygate” and claiming that it may be “one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history,” Haines said: “Surely, you realize that I think that’s ridiculous. … It’s very unfortunate that the current president of the United States goes after the institutions that he is responsible for in a way that is not at least apparently the product of deliberation and thoughtfulness.” Haines, who had previously served as deputy CIA director under John Brennan, was charged by the White House in the summer of 2016 with overseeing the U.S. response to the Russian election attack. The response was a highly secretive process that she said was further complicated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s refusal to go along with a bipartisan warning about the Russian efforts. In a highly controversial decision, the White House chose not to respond to those efforts, fearing that it might disrupt the election. Instead, Obama warned Putin privately during a summit in China — a move that officials thought was productive because the White House detected no further Russian attempts to tamper with state election databases, which was their chief worry at the time. Still, Haines acknowledged that there were aspects of the Russian attack — especially the exploitation of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter — the White House and the U.S. intelligence community did not fully understand at the time and that continued after Obama’s warning. “The picture you have now we didn’t have then,” she said. “Honestly, we could have done better from the policy perspective,” Haines said. “In thinking that through, I think we all have a piece of that to live with. I do think, though, even knowing that, I’m not sure our reactions would have been any different.” | |
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| 05-25-18 07:03am - 2404 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Movie producer Weinstein charged with rape, sex abuse By Alice Popovici By Alice Popovici 2 minutes 31 seconds ago By Alice Popovici NEW YORK (Reuters) - Film producer Harvey Weinstein surrendered to New York City police on Friday on charges of rape and sex abuse, months after he was toppled from Hollywood's most powerful ranks by scores of women accusing him of misconduct. More than 70 women have accused the co-founder of the Miramax film studio and Weinstein Co of sexual misconduct, including rape, with some allegations dating back decades. The accusations, first reported by the New York Times and the New Yorker last year, gave rise to the #MeToo movement in which hundreds of women have publicly accused powerful men in business, government and entertainment of misconduct. Weinstein is charged with rape, sexual misconduct, sex abuse and the committing of a criminal sex act against two women, the New York Police Department said in a statement, which did not identify the women. Weinstein, 66, has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone. Weinstein gave a weak smile as he arrived at the station house at about 7:25 a.m. EDT (1125 GMT) wearing a dark jacket over a blue sweater and white open-collared shirt and dark jeans. He carried thick books under his right arm, including what appeared to be biographies of the Broadway musical duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and Elia Kazan, the director of such classic Hollywood films as "On the Waterfront" and "A Streetcar Named Desire." Police officers escorted Weinstein inside a lower Manhattan police station as scores of journalists pushed up against barricades for pictures and video, while three helicopters hovered overhead. He is due to appear later in the morning for arraignment at a Manhattan courthouse where a judge is expected to release him on bail, according to media reports. Weinstein is expected to be charged with raping one woman and forcing another to perform oral sex on him, the Times reported, citing unidentified law enforcement officials. Weinstein's spokesman Juda Engelmayer and his lawyer Benjamin Brafman both declined to comment to Reuters on Thursday on the imminent charges. The charges follow a months-long investigation that involved the Manhattan district attorney's office. The victim in the rape case has not been identified, the Times reported, but Weinstein will be charged with first-degree and third-degree rape. The other case involves allegations by Lucia Evans, a former aspiring actress who told the New Yorker that Weinstein forced her to give him oral sex in 2004, the Times reported. Entertainment industry heavyweights have distanced themselves from Weinstein since the accusations became public. The board of the Weinstein Co fired him and the company filed for bankruptcy in March. In 2017, he was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after racking up Oscars for a string of films that helped define independent cinema in the 1990s, including "The Crying Game," "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction." Weinstein had been a fixture in the most elite entertainment circles of Manhattan and Los Angeles until his accusers came forward. He sought treatment for sex addiction at a facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, the New York Times reported. London's Metropolitan Police have said they are investigating an allegation of sexual assault against Weinstein, while prosecutors in Los Angeles said in February they were reviewing three accusations of sexual assault against him. Brafman said in a May court filing that federal prosecutors in New York had opened a separate criminal investigation into the allegations. Actress Ashley Judd last month sued Weinstein, saying he cost her a part in 1998 in the film "The Lord of the Rings" after she rejected his sexual advances, charges that Weinstein has denied. [nL1N1S803B] Actress Rose McGowan, among the first in Hollywood to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault, said in a statement on Thursday that his alleged victims were now "one step closer to justice." Other actresses who have publicly accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct include Uma Thurman and Salma Hayek. [nL2N1PT0DO] [nL1N1OD2OK] (Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien, Peter Szekely and Jonathan Allen in New York; Writing by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) Comment Guidelines | |
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| 05-24-18 10:33pm - 2404 days | #753 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
This U.S. Border Patrol agent should be the next guy to get a Presidential Medal of Honor (or whatever is the highest award given to a civilian law enforcement officer) for protecting our borders against illegal aliens. This agent shot dead an undocumented immigrant in Texas. Almost certainly an illegal alien. Turns out she was a woman, probably between 16 to 24-years-old. But remember, women can breed kids, who grow up to be illegal aliens. So, Trump can now hold a ceremony, honoring a brave U.S. Border Patrol agent, who risked his life defending our border. Side note: A recent analysis found that the U.S. government has had to pay out more than $60 million in settlements between 2005 and 2017 over deaths, injuries and wrongful detentions involving Border Patrol agents. --------- --------- U.S. U.S. Border Patrol Agent Shoots Dead Undocumented Immigrant in Texas Newsweek Chantal Da Silva,Newsweek 18 hours ago A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed an undocumented immigrant in Texas on Wednesday after the agent was allegedly attacked by a group of people, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has said. The Border Patrol told the Los Angeles Times that the person fatally shot was a woman, while local activists claimed she was around 16 to 24-years-old. The Laredo Sector Border Patrol said in a statement that the border patrol agent, who has yet to be identified, responded to a "report of illegal activity" in Rio Bravo, on his own at around 12:22 p.m. Trending: Chicxulub Asteroid: Dinosaur-Killing Impact Caused 100,000 Years of Climate Change The agent "discovered a group of illegal aliens" when he arrived at the scene, the agency sector said. It said "initial reports" indicated that the agent was attacked by a number of people armed with "blunt objects." That's when the agent "fired at least one round from his service-issued firearm, fatally wounding one of the assailants," the Laredo Sector said. At some point, a number of other Border Patrol agents arrived at the scene. They called for EMS and administered first aid until the Rio Bravo Fire Department arrived. They also apprehended three undocumented immigrants believed to be connected to the incident, which is now under investigation by the FBI and Texas Rangers. Laredo activist Priscilla "Lagordiloca" Villarreal posted video of the scene to Facebook, showing FBI agents speaking with local law enforcement officer. Villarreal said she believed the woman shot was between the ages of 16 and 24 and said she was shot "in the head with a single gunshot." CBP has not responded to a request for more information on the incident. A recent analysis found that the U.S. government has had to pay out more than $60 million in settlements between 2005 and 2017 over deaths, injuries and wrongful detentions involving Border Patrol agents. The analysis, published by the Guardian newspaper said CBP agents were involved in 97 "fatal encounters" since 2003. Since then, the government has had to settle at least 20 wrongful death claims from families of people killed in interactions with Border Patrol agents. While most of the government's settlements were found to be related to reckless driving, the majority of fatal encounters involving CBP agents were caused by bullet wounds. This article was first written by Newsweek | |
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| 05-24-18 10:12pm - 2404 days | #752 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump awards Medal of Honor to Navy SEAL accused of war crimes. The Navy SEAL was also accused of leaving a man behind in enemy lines. And for making bad decisions which cost the lives of Americans under his command. But this is Trump's kind of hero: a man who was accused of illegally ordering the executions of male Afghans, and mutilating the bodies of fallen enemy fighters. Trump is hard on his enemies. And the Navy SEAL seems to have been hard on the men under his command, and on his enemies as well. ---------- ---------- News Trump awards Medal of Honor to Navy SEAL accused of war crimes By Chris Perez May 24, 2018 | 10:29pm | Updated President Trump on Thursday awarded the Medal of Honor to a retired Navy SEAL who has been accused of committing war crimes — and leaving a man behind in enemy territory. Former Master Chief Special Warefare Operator Britt Slabinski received the award during a public ceremony at the White House. In 2002, he spearheaded a controversial SEAL Team Six mission in Afghanistan — which led to the deaths of seven Americans. He was a Senior Chief Petty Officer at the time, in charge of leading a seven-member unit into eastern Afghanistan to set up an observation post on the mountain of Takur Ghar. It was just six months after 9/11, and US forces had been waging war with Al Qaeda in the valley below as part of Operation Anaconda. “Britt and his teammates were preparing to exit the aircraft on the mountain peak when their helicopter was struck by machine gun fire, and machine gun fire like they’ve never seen before,” explained Trump, who recounted the events on Thursday. “Not a good feeling,” he said. As the chopper “lurched away from the assault,” one of the SEAL Team Six members — later identified as Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts — got tossed from the aircraft but was thought to have survived. “At this point, Britt received information suggesting [Roberts] was probably still alive,” Trump said. “The team faced a choice: to wait for reinforcements and pretty much safety, or to return immediately to the enemy stronghold in the hope of saving Neil’s life.” Despite being “out-manned, out-gunned and fighting uphill on a steep, icy mountain,” Trump said Slabinski and his squad made the choice to turn back. “For them, it was an easy one,” the president added. “They went back to that mountain.” While Trump hailed Slabinski for his actions, many in the military community feel that he made several bad decisions that day in 2002, which wound up costing the lives of seven Americans, including Roberts. First, he chose to take a much more dangerous route than the one they had planned after experiencing maintenance delays and pressure from senior officers. Slabinski told the New York Times in 2016 that when they landed on Takur Ghar, Qaeda forces were already waiting. Next, he reportedly made the decision to land his team directly on the observation post — rather than hiking up to it from a safer position. Military officials later determined that this was a major error, which “violated a basic tenet of reconnaissance.” Slabinski then chose to turn back after losing Roberts — recruiting Air Force Technical Sgt. John Chapman in the process, according to accounts. Unbeknownst to him, Roberts had already been captured by enemy fighters and killed. “Britt continued to engage the enemy, repeatedly exposing himself to horrendous fire,” Trump said Thursday, calling the assault the “Battle of Roberts Ridge.” “When they could go no further, Britt tended to the wounded and coordinated their escape until his team was finally evacuated,” the president added. Members of the Army’s Delta Force and 75th Ranger Regiment teams, which were involved in the battle, believe Slabinski left Chapman behind that day after retreating with the rest of his unit. Footage obtained by the Times appears to show the airman battling Qaeda forces on the mountain for another hour — even resorting to hand-to-hand combat at one point. Chapman wound up dying in an attempt to protect arriving reinforcements from gunfire, according to the Times. He will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, though it’s unclear when. Slabinski has repeatedly denied leaving him on Takur Ghar that day, while also defending the rest of his actions. “I can tell you, we left no one behind. No one,” he told Fox News, just three days before receiving the Medal of Honor. “What I saw, what I experienced, I know that clearly that we didn’t leave anyone behind up there,” Slabinski said. “I wasn’t more than 20 to 30 feet away from where John was and that was my experience. But what I want people to focus on is that it’s called Roberts Ridge now because we lost six other people up there. A total of seven.” Asked if he thought Chapman was still alive when they retreated, Slabinski replied: “That wasn’t what I experienced. It wasn’t what I saw.” In addition to the 2002 incident, Slabinski has been accused of multiple war crimes. They include illegally ordering the executions of male Afghans and mutilating the bodies of fallen enemy fighters. “[Slabinski] certainly has been accused of some very bad things,” retired SEAL officer Dick Couch told Politico. He pointed out, however, how the award is based on “one specific action” — and not the recipient’s character. “I’ve read excerpts of what he did in that battle and it certainly seems Medal of Honor-worthy,” Couch said. Dana White, a spokesperson for Defense Secretary James Mattis, told Politico that Mattis “was well aware of the news reporting around Master Chief Slabinski” and recommended him for the Medal of Honor anyway. | |
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| 05-24-18 09:57pm - 2404 days | #751 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump and his advisors seem to have an allergic reaction to the truth. That might be why they are caught telling lies all the time. ---------- ---------- The email Roger Stone didn’t want anyone to see "Please ask Assange for any State or HRC e-mail from August 10 to August 30." Aaron Rupar May 24, 2018, 5:22 pm Emails obtained by the Wall Street Journal indicate that longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone withheld key documents from the House Intelligence Committee — documents indicating he lied about his communications with a radio host he hoped would serve as a backchannel to WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign. According to the Journal, in a message sent on September 18, 2016, Stone wrote to Randy Credico, a New York radio personality who interviewed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange several weeks earlier, and asked him to “Please ask Assange for any State or HRC e-mail from August 10 to August 30–particularly on August 20, 2011.” That email, which indicates Stone sought help colluding with a website that the U.S. intelligence community has accused of laundering emails stolen by Russian hackers, contradicts Stone’s September 2017 testimony to the House Intelligence Committee that he “merely wanted confirmation” from Credico that Assange had information about Clinton. It also contradicts statements Stone has made on his Facebook page and website about how his communications with Credico about Wikileaks merely “asked Randy to confirm that the Australian journalist had credible information on Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” The Journal details Credico’s response, which suggests that he had asked Assange for favors on Stone’s behalf on previous occasions (emphasis added — typos in the original): Mr. Credico initially responded to Mr. Stone that what he was requesting would be on WikiLeaks’ website if it existed, according to an email reviewed by the Journal. Mr. Stone, the emails show, replied: “Why do we assume WikiLeaks has released everything they have ???” In another email, Mr. Credico then asked Mr. Stone to give him a “little bit of time,” saying he thought Mr. Assange might appear on his radio show the next day. A few hours later, Mr. Credico wrote: “That batch probably coming out in the next drop…I can’t ask them favors every other day .I asked one of his lawyers…they have major legal headaches riggt now..relax.” About two weeks after Stone reached out to Credico, Stone posted a cryptic tweet suggesting he had foreknowledge that WikiLeaks was about to publish stolen emails that would be damaging to Clinton. The first tranche of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta were published by WikiLeaks less than a week later. Stone has provided implausible explanations of that tweet, along with others he posted in 2016 indicating he had foreknowledge of documents WikiLeaks would later publish. During the presidential campaign, Stone bragged about being in contact with WikiLeaks. He has since tried to walk that back, recently telling CNN he “is not involved in any collusion, coordination, or conspiracy with the Russians, or anyone else, and there’s no evidence to the contrary.” But his emails to Credico indicate that at the very least, Stone was eager to collude with a website Trump’s own intelligence officials have publicly accused of serving as a Russian cutout. CIA Director Pompeo denounces Wikileaks, forgets he used them to attack Hillary Clinton In an interview with the Journal, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), ranking member of the House Intelligence Community, said of the Stone-Credico emails, “If there is such a document, then it would mean that [Stone’s] testimony was either deliberately incomplete or deliberately false.” A lawyer for Stone, Grant Smith, lamely told the Journal that the emails weren’t turned over to Schiff’s committee because they were “not encompassed within the scope of the committee’s request.” But the committee’s investigation, which was recently ended by a pro-Trump faction led by chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), was about Russia’s efforts to meddle in the election — precisely what Stone was discussing with Credico in the email. The most damning thing in Roger Stone’s newly released email about Assange The Journal’s report represents the second time in less than two months that emails Stone wrote in 2016 have come back to haunt him. In April, Trey Yingst of One America News published an August 4, 2016 email exchange between Roger Stone and then-Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg suggesting the Trump campaign was aware Assange was in possession of information that could help them overcome the commanding lead Clinton then enjoyed over Trump in the polls. The subject line of the email is “McClatchty/Marist Poll : Clinton Up By 15 | Daily Wire.” “enjoy it while u can. I dined with my new pal Julian Assange last nite,” Stone wrote. That email indicates that one of Trump’s most longtime advisers viewed Assange and WikiLeaks as central to their effort to overcome a big deficit and win the election. Stone later denied actually dining with Assange, saying that his comment to Nunberg was just a joke. by Taboola | |
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| 05-24-18 09:38pm - 2404 days | #750 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Let's clean the swamp in Washington. Avenatti wants to speed up the lawsuit to end the NOL agreement. Trump has admitted knowledge of the NOL. Therefore, Avenatti wants to depose Trump, to get the lawsuit moving again, after it was suspended. Trump stated he wanted to drain the swamp in Washington. Let the federal judge force Trump to testify in the NOL case, which might help drain the swamp. "Avenatti also said Thursday that the delay is unfair to Clifford because it has given Trump time to post "incendiary tweets" about the case to his 52 million followers, including claims that Clifford’s assertions are "false and extortionist" and that he’d sue her for $20 million." Trump is a liar. Claiming that a porn star is trying to extort him (without offering any proof), while saying he would sue her for $20 million. That seems to be legal extortion on Trump's part. While also trying to smear Stormy Daniels. Which is a favorite tactic of Trump and his allies. Hold the President accountable to the law. ----------- ----------- politics Avenatti Seeks to Revive Hush Money Lawsuit After Trump’s Comments By Erik Larson May 24, 2018, 9:49 AM PDT Updated on May 24, 2018, 11:00 AM PDT Avenatti seeks to end hold on effort to end confidentiality President acknowledged to new of deal forged by lawyer Cohen Adult film star Stormy Daniels said President Donald Trump’s sudden acknowledgment of her 2016 hush agreement means that a judge’s hold on her lawsuit to void the deal can be lifted. Trump’s admission that he knew about the pact shows there’s no need to question his lawyer, Michael Cohen, whose home and office were raided by FBI agents in a New York criminal probe, the actress’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, said Thursday in a filing in Los Angeles federal court. Cohen and Trump secured the 90-day delay by arguing the criminal investigation could overlap with the hush-payment case and that Cohen’s rights against self-incrimination would be violated if he were questioned in the Daniels suit. But Avenatti said Thursday he’d only pursue a deposition of Trump. "Mr. Trump’s newfound voice on facts concerning this lawsuit demonstrates he will be able to testify in his defense," he said. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, signed the agreement in October 2016 and said it was intended to silence her about a sexual encounter she had with Trump more than a decade ago. Trump has denied having sex with the porn star. When the stay was issued on April 27, the California judge wasn’t aware of Trump’s statements a day earlier on Fox News, where the president said the criminal investigation in New York had nothing to do with the hush-agreement case, according to Avenatti’s filing. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer, also asserted Cohen’s innocence on May 2, telling Fox’s Sean Hannity that Trump was aware of the agreement and repaid Cohen for the "perfectly legal" hush payment. Avenatti also said Thursday that the delay is unfair to Clifford because it has given Trump time to post "incendiary tweets" about the case to his 52 million followers, including claims that Clifford’s assertions are "false and extortionist" and that he’d sue her for $20 million. "The only way to fully escape the cloud of millions of dollars of alleged damages and liability, would be to allow the lawsuit to proceed and to have the settlement agreement declared null and void," Avenatti said. Avenatti also cited comments by Trump and Giuliani that the criminal investigation in New York pertains only to Cohen’s "businesses" and that the nondisclosure payment to Clifford, just a month before the election, "did not result in campaign violations," as some legal experts have speculated. "The new developments in the case make it clear that less drastic measures than a complete stay of all proceedings are available," Avenatti said. (Adds Fox News interview.) | |
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| 05-24-18 07:53pm - 2404 days | #749 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Fake news: Nancy Pelosi is a pussy who lets Donald Trump bend her over backward and fuck her up the ass. And she screams in joy: "More. More. You horny bastard!" My question: Why is Nancy Pelosi saying impeaching Donald Trump would do more harm than good? Trump says Democrats are evil and traitors. And Pelosi says Donald Trump should not be impeached? Fight fire with fire. Or go down in defeat. Pelosi is a woman without any moral sense, if she is willing to support Trump. 'she is instead focused on restoring "democracy."' Is she is a hypocrite, who's too blind to understand what Trump supports? Whatever, the Democrats need to get rid of Pelosi, and find someone with a better moral compass. ----------- ----------- Politics Nancy Pelosi Says Impeaching Donald Trump Would Divide the Country, Do More Harm Than Good Newsweek Gillian Edevane,Newsweek 12 hours ago House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi may be one of President Donald Trump's favorite targets, but that doesn't mean she's rooting for Congress to impeach the blustery business mogul. During a CNN town hall on Wednesday evening, the California representative said pushing Trump out of office would further "divide the country" and suggested it could do more harm than good. Pelosi explained to host Chris Cuomo why she wasn't fully behind the idea when presented with polls that showed 70 percent of Democrats support evicting Trump from the Oval Office. "I take it as a responsibility in choosing, prioritizing, what is unifying for our country," she said. "I've hesitated to use impeachment.... I do not think that impeachment is a policy agenda." The Democratic leader, who has sparred with Trump numerous times, suggested that there was a partisan aspect to impeachment talks. She told Cuomo that she was last pressured to impeach President George W. Bush for invading Iraq, and that Republicans pushed to throw Clinton out of office. “Impeachment is, to me, divisive,” Pelosi continued. “Again, if the facts are there, if the facts are there, then this would have to be bipartisan to go forward. But if it is viewed as partisan, it will divide the country, and I just don’t think that’s what we should do." Pelosi, who confirmed plans to run for Speaker of the House if Republicans lose their majority in the midterm elections, said she is instead focused on restoring "democracy." Clenching the flow of money in politics and reducing lobbyists' power are priorities, she said. Despite her cynicism regarding impeachment proceedings, Pelosi has been one of Trump's most frequent political foes. Trump regularly lobbed personal insults at the Democratic leader during the campaign and continued to lambast her policies via Twitter since taking the Oath of Office. Pelosi, who has mostly kept her criticism reserved to Trump's policies, responded by accusing him of denigrating the presidency. "They are part of the Trump administration’s unmistakable campaign to make America white again," Pelosi remarked, speaking about Trump's immigration platform. Earlier this week, Trump claimed Pelosi expressed support for MS-13 gang members. "And the other day—just the other day—Nancy Pelosi came out in favor of MS-13," Trump said on Tuesday. "That’s the first time I’ve heard that. She wants them to be treated with respect, as do other Democrats." In fact, Pelosi was responding to misleading reports that claimed Trump had called undocumented immigrants—not gang members—animals. This article was first written by Newsweek | |
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| 05-24-18 07:22pm - 2404 days | #748 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Meeting in a summit in Bulgaria's capital of Sofia, European Council President Donald Tusk told the assembled leaders: "Looking at the latest decisions of President Trump, someone could even think: With friends like that, who needs enemies? But frankly speaking, Europe should be grateful to President Trump. Because thanks to him we have got rid of all illusions." ------------- ------------- Europe sticks its thumb in Trump's eye David Andelman By David A. Andelman Updated 9:00 AM ET, Fri May 18, 2018 (CNN)Europe's leaders are suddenly developing a backbone. This new sense of purpose has come about out of necessity. The continent is currently facing the duel prospects of a nuclear-armed Iran and a financial hit to scores of linchpin European companies as a result of President Donald Trump pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. And none of this bodes well for the President or the United States. In the fog of Russiagate, Kim Jong Un's volte-face on nuclear disarmament, trade wars with China and half the world, as well as Palestinian violence, suddenly all 28-member states of the European Union have remarkably adopted a unified stance against the one man calculated to unite: Donald Trump. Meeting in a summit in Bulgaria's capital of Sofia, European Council President Donald Tusk told the assembled leaders: "Looking at the latest decisions of President Trump, someone could even think: With friends like that, who needs enemies? But frankly speaking, Europe should be grateful to President Trump. Because thanks to him we have got rid of all illusions." Trump's Korea hopes thrown into turmoil The European leaders seem to be talking in a rare, public and unified voice that the Iranian nuclear deal must be preserved and that their nations, individually and collectively, must do all within their power to preserve it. So, look out, America. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are reportedly committed to finding ways for their companies to avoid any new American sanctions against Iran and prolong the treaty. Even Russia -- not a member of the EU but a signatory of the Iran accord -- with barely restrained glee, agreed to play a role in Europe's efforts. All the Kremlin's wildest dreams seem to be coming to life. At a joint news conference in Brussels with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, affirmed that allowing the Iran agreement to come apart would "seriously threaten peace and security" and urged the political leaders meeting in Bulgaria to arrive at "a common and consensual approach." In a direct challenge to Trump, Juncker added: "We must say that we have the means, we will use them, but we must face the truth: Means are limited but we will fully exploit the means we have at our disposal." In all, another bad omen for trans-Atlantic relations. Particularly since Europe was already feeling somewhat less than charitable toward Trump. Bolton: US will impose all pre-deal Iran sanctions 03:05 First came a series of slaps in the face -- Trump withdrawing from the global climate pact in the early days of his presidency, followed by some frosty first meetings with Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May. Then along came the threat of stiff global tariffs on steel and aluminum exports from Europe. And finally, the latest visits by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Merkel and Macron. All three made strong pitches in Washington for maintaining the Iran agreement. But all found themselves slapped rudely with an immovable and irreconcilable Trump wielding the single-minded fixation of continuing to undo anything negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama, with whom all three European politicians had maintained quite cordial relations. The big question is whether Europe is in a position to make good on its plans to go it alone with a still nuclear-free Iran and at the same time preserve the ability of some of its major companies to continue doing what promises to be lucrative business there. Already, French oil company Total has warned it will have to pull out of Iran if its joint venture there does not get a waiver from promised American sanctions and help from the EU. Other companies including German insurer Allianz have warned they may have to take similar actions. Trump has pledged to retaliate against any European company or country that seeks to contravene the sanctions he says are en route against Iran after America's pullout from the nuclear agreement. With so much of the world tied deeply into the dollar-denominated US financial system, it does not appear there could be anyway around Trump's intransigence. But European leaders now suddenly seem motivated to try. Juncker has proposed some options, playing on the strength of the euro and the European Investment Bank, which has the power to coordinate euro-denominated credit lines from European governments. Even more powerfully, the EU leaders decided in Sofia to invoke a procedure first developed in 1996 to bypass American sanctions against Cuba, though never used. Called a "blocking statute," it turns around and blocks any EU company from honoring all US sanctions imposed on Iran and orders nonrecognition of any court rulings that might seek to enforce American penalties. Trump's simple worldview is good for his enemies and bad for his allies Trump's simple worldview is good for his enemies and bad for his allies Both Merkel and Macron have pledged government backing for any of their nations' companies who want to buck the American sanction machine and continue operations or investments in Iran -- a central demand of Tehran if it is to continue to honor the nuclear accord. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Kremlin was supporting a proposal surfaced in Sofia for an EU meeting next week in Vienna, Austria, specifically to strategize on how to continue implementation of the Iran pact. So, the big question that remains is whether the United States really wants to embark on a battle with so many of its longstanding friends and strategic allies at the very moment it is embarking on similarly self-centered and challenging encounters elsewhere. A high-level Chinese delegation arrived Thursday in Washington to continue a series of trade talks with their American counterparts that did not go especially well in Beijing and exposed some deep rifts between senior US negotiators Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro. There appears to be little likelihood now that the NAFTA agreement, which Trump pledged to rip up or renegotiate, will be ready this year, just as the EU and Mexico arrived at a landmark pact that all but eliminates tariffs. At the same time, Trump is fighting multifront diplomatic wars with North Korea as a smooth road to a summit in Singapore has suddenly hit a rocky stretch indeed. And Palestinian riots and violence in Gaza have overshadowed the precipitous decision to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem -- again over sharp protests from European nations. At a time when Trump would seem to need every friend he can get, he is finding very few indeed. Perhaps it's time for some more carve-outs for European companies already doing business in Iran in an effort to preserve what's left of trans-Atlantic comity. | |
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| 05-24-18 06:24pm - 2404 days | #747 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump shows his power and wrath. He prays to God that he will not have to unleash a nuclear strike over North Korea. While his trigger finger is hovering over the buttons that will send nuclear missiles to eliminate our foe (while also, by happenstance, vaporizing thousands or more of our allies in the region, and dooming other allies to a slow and lingering death from nuclear fallout. Gosh, what will the President do? "Trump is not alone in hoping that the U.S. does not unleash its nuclear wrath on North Korea. Experts have estimated that even a non-nuclear conflict would result in up to a million casualties, and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in August that such a conflict "could result in more victims than World War II," making it the deadliest ever. While the U.S. military is far more powerful and advanced than North Korea's armed forces, defense officials have warned of the unpredictability and difficulty of waging such a battle." However, there is a cleaner way to end the problem. Get the N Korean leader to the table. Promise to meet with him. Then send a double in place of the real Trump. And firebomb the site when the meeting takes place. Zoom! End of N Korean leader. End of N Korean problem. ------------ ------------ World Will U.S. Go to War with North Korea? Trump Says ‘Our Military Is Ready’ After Calling Off Kim Jong Un Talks Newsweek Tom O’Connor,Newsweek 7 hours ago President Donald Trump has called off a landmark summit with North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un, raising fears that the alternative to diplomacy is military action against the reclusive, nuclear-armed state. In a letter addressed directly to "His Excellency Kim Jong Un," Trump cited a recent statement carried earlier Thursday by the official Korean Central News Agency as the reason he canceled what would have been the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and North Korean supreme leader, slated to take place June 12 in Singapore. The statement, attributed to North Korean Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui, branded Vice President Mike Pence "ignorant and stupid" as well as a "political dummy" for threatening to overthrow Kim as the U.S. did Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi. Threatening to walk away from the summit, Choe said it was up to the U.S. to respect the talks or face a "nuclear-to-nuclear showdown." Trump responded to this, directly writing, "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used." He later told a press conference, "Our military is ready if necessary," along with Pacific allies Japan and South Korea "should foolish action be taken by North Korea." Trump is not alone in hoping that the U.S. does not unleash its nuclear wrath on North Korea. Experts have estimated that even a non-nuclear conflict would result in up to a million casualties, and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in August that such a conflict "could result in more victims than World War II," making it the deadliest ever. While the U.S. military is far more powerful and advanced than North Korea's armed forces, defense officials have warned of the unpredictability and difficulty of waging such a battle. Trump's decision to nix an unprecedented diplomatic opportunity between the U.S. and North Korea may also empower administration hard-liners such as national security adviser John Bolton, a traditional proponent of regime change against U.S. foes. He championed the so-called "Libya model" that spurred the first cracks in what was already a tenuous peace process. Related: Why did Trump cancel summit with North Korea? Five reasons president will not meet Kim Jong Un Don't miss: What Is Propofol, The Drug Found in Michael Jackson's Body When He Died? "The cancelation is unfortunate and risks derailing the legitimate openings of recent months. There is no chance of freezing or rolling back the North’s nuclear weapons program if we don’t talk to them–and the 'military option' would be an absolute catastrophe. The cancelation could empower hawkish voices in the administration to push for even greater pressure against the DPRK–and potentially even military action, which Bolton fully supports," John Carl Baker, Mellon-ACLS Public Fellow at the Washington, D.C.–based Ploughshares Fund. "Trump’s letter contained a not-so-subtle nuclear threat, which at the very least signals a willingness to break from the conciliatory stance of the last few weeks. We aren’t quite there yet, but a return to 'fire and fury' is certainly possible, especially if North Korea responds to Trump’s letter with further brinksmanship," Baker added. RTX5XZBO A timeline shows the history of the two Koreas since 1900, published on April 25. The once-Japanese occupied Korean Peninsula was split by the U.S. and the Soviet Union following World War II and the two satellite states went to war in the 1950s, spawning a decades-long hostility. 2018 INTER-KOREAN SUMMIT PREPARATION COMMITTEE/REUTERS Bolton was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations when Qaddafi decided to abandon nuclear weapons for better relations with the West in 2003, the same year the world watched the U.S. invade Iraq on weapons of mass destruction charges that later proved to be false. Bolton, a staunch Iraq War supporter, lauded Qaddafi's decision and asked North Korea to do the same. Fifteen years later, after Qaddafi was overthrown and killed by a 2011 rebellion supported by the U.S., Bolton felt the framework for such a deal was still relevant. North Korea disagreed. First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye Gwan issued a scathing response last week, asserting that "the world knows too well that our country is neither Libya nor Iraq, which have met a miserable fate" and argued that Trump "will be recorded as a more tragic and unsuccessful president than his predecessors" if his administration did not change course from such remarks. Trump then appeared to disavow Bolton's words, saying, "The Libyan model is not a model that we have at all when we are thinking of North Korea" and conceding that the North African country "was decimated" by the policies of former President Barack Obama. Trump vowed to keep Kim in power and that a U.S. deal would make him "very rich." Pence, however, revived the Libya model in Monday's interview, saying, "As the president made clear, this will only end like the Libyan model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn't make a deal." It was this comment that prompted Choe's Korean Central News Agency statement. North Korea has developed its nuclear weapons in pursuit of a credible deterrent from U.S. invasion, often pointing to countries like Iraq and Libya as examples of those who gave up weapons of mass destruction only to later be invaded anyway. RTS1RZ1H A composite photo shows President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on May 17 and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un in Panmunjom, South Korea, on April 27. Both men have warned that war was likely the only alternative to achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula. KEVIN LAMARQUE/KOREA SUMMIT PRESS POOL/REUTERS Rorry Daniels, deputy project director for the National Committee on American Foreign Policy's Asia-Pacific Security Forum, said there was likely a deep debate within the different branches of the U.S. government—such as Congress, the Cabinet, the military and diplomatic corps—over "how much regime security the U.S. can offer to the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] given their political system and history of provocations." While the U.S.'s top goal may be denuclearization, North Korea's priority is guaranteeing the safety of Kim and his government, she explained. "We see these two competing priorities clash in the recent statements by top administration officials about whether or not a deal would follow the Libya model—an upfront dismantlement of the program without a long-term security guarantee for the regime," Daniels told Newsweek. "In the absence of any mutual trust between the two sides, these statements and the follow-on responses from North Korea laid bare these divisions at a sensitive moment when both sides are testing the sincerity of the other to listen to and understand their goals. And coming to a common understanding of the goals of the summit is critical to ensuring both sides can declare it a success," she added. The U.S. and North Korea have not fought directly since the 1950s Korean War that spawned the ongoing hostilities between the two. However, as IRIS Independent Research President Rebecca Grant pointed out in a statement sent to Newsweek on Thursday, "The U.S. Forces Korea motto is 'Fight Tonight' for a reason." This article was first written by Newsweek | |
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| 05-24-18 02:08pm - 2404 days | #746 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
How can you tell if a White House official is going to lie? They open their mouth. Sometimes they even lie with their mouth closed. They can be tricky. In this case, Sarah Sanders, White House Press Secretary, told reporters two days before a meeting, that no one from the White House would attend. At the meeting, two days later, two White House officials attended the meeting: A lawyer who represents Trump. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly also reportedly attended the meeting. Does Trump ever tell the truth? Only God in Heaven knows the answer to that one. ----------- ----------- Two White House officials attend a meeting and give the middle finger to the rule of law "No one from the White House staff will attend." Judd Legum May 24, 2018, 3:34 pm On Thursday, two White House officials, including a lawyer who represents President Trump, attended meetings with top law enforcement officials about documents related to the ongoing investigation of Trump and his campaign. Two days ago, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters no one from the White House would attend. The topic of the meeting was a subpeona by Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) for “all documents referencing or related” to an informant who spoke to members of the Trump campaign during the FBI’s counter-intelligence investigation of Russian interference with the election. Nunes also attended the meeting on Thursday. The Department of Justice has resisted the subpoena, arguing that it would compromise special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation. They agreed to the meeting after Trump personally intervened earlier this week. Also attending the meeting were FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Edward O’Callaghan, a top Justice Department Official. Nunes, at least officially, was requesting the documents in his role of Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which has the power to conduct oversight over the intelligence community. But Nunes has also operated effectively as a political operative for Trump. To ease concerns that the meeting was merely a fishing expedition to help Trump discredit the Mueller investigation and defend himself from potential legal jeopardy Sarah Sanders assured reporters on Tuesday that no one from the White House would attend the meeting with Nunes. Q Thanks, Sarah. I want to ask about this meeting the Chief of Staff is setting up with lawmakers regarding the documents that they requested about the Russia investigation. Can you say what specific documents the lawmakers will be allowed to see? Chairman Nunes has requested all documents related to this intelligence source. Will he get to see all of the documents? SANDERS: That’s something that you would have to ask the Department of Justice. I can tell you the President asked Chief of Staff Kelly to set up the meeting. It is scheduled to take place on Thursday of this week. The individuals that are expected to attend are Chairman Nunes, Chairman Gowdy, FBI Director Wray, DNI Director Coats, and DOJ official Ed O’Callaghan. No one from the White House staff will attend. That was untrue. White House attorney Emmett Flood attended the meeting with Nunes. Flood was brought into the White House earlier this month. At the time of his hiring, Sanders said that Flood’s job was to “to represent the president and the administration against the Russia witch hunt.” So now it is clear. Nunes is using his oversight powers as a means of providing access to documents related to an ongoing investigation involving Trump. There was always a possibility, even a likelihood, that Nunes would share this information with Trump. But Nunes isn’t even bothering to pretend like the request has a legitimate purpose. He invited Trump’s attorney, whose job is to defend him in the investigation, to the meeting. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly also reportedly attended the meeting. Flood also attended a second meeting with law enforcement officials on the same topic with a different group of lawmakers. On Thursday, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, said that Trump would not agree to an interview with Mueller unless he receives the information as well. Giuliani acknowledged that the demand is irregular and as “as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, he never would have turned over all of his investigatory material to a potential target.” Trump has sought to cast the existence of an FBI informant, which is not unusual, as a major scandal that discredits Mueller’s investigation. In a tweet Thursday morning he called it “one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history.” UPDATE: White House confirms that the Kelly and Flood attended the meeting but said they left early and the meeting didn’t really start until after they left. | |
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| 05-24-18 01:44pm - 2404 days | #745 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
If Trump meets with Mueller, will Trump be guarded by a squad of secret service agent? Of course. But will it be enough? Remember, Mueller is FBI, specially trained to deal with terrorists, spies, and other agents of evil. So Trump can not feel completely safe. Also, what if the FBI or CIA has planted spies, or worse--paid assassins-in President Trumps secret service? Trump must strike first. Have the secret service raid the FBI, the CIA, and any other Federal crime unit for criminals. Drain the swamp in Washington. That includes the criminals hiding inside law enforcement agencies. ------------ ------------ Rudy Giuliani: Trump Won't Interview With Mueller Until We Get ‘Spygate’ Report HuffPost S.V. Date,HuffPost 1 hour 57 minutes ago WASHINGTON ― After weeks of describing June’s planned meeting with North Korea as all-consuming, President Donald Trump’s lawyer said the canceled summit does not mean Trump will soon be speaking with prosecutors investigating his campaign. “No,” Rudy Giuliani said with a laugh. “It means he can talk to me.” He said the cancellation of the Singapore meeting that had been set for June 12 gives him more time to work with Trump to decide next steps. “We could probably decide by June 12 whether to testify,” Giuliani told HuffPost on Thursday. That decision, though, will apparently hinge on whether Trump is given whatever report is produced following a Justice Department probe of the FBI’s use of an informant to learn about his campaign’s contacts with Russia. Trump demanded the review on Sunday following a coordinated effort by his Capitol Hill allies and conservative media to discredit the informant. “Are we going to get a report on ‘spygate’?” Giuliani said, using the term Trump invented this week. Giuliani allowed that, as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, he never would have turned over all of his investigatory material to a potential target in that manner. “But I wasn’t investigating the president,” he said, justifying the demand for the FBI informant details. “You cannot compel criminal process on the president.” It’s one of the reasons I’ve become so aggressive, so his tweeting would be confined to the subject that we’ve chosen for the day. Rudy Giuliani on President Donald Trump Giuliani said he still would prefer for Trump to avoid Mueller completely. “I would not like to talk to Mueller at all,” he said. “I don’t see what you gain from that.” But, Giuliani added, Trump himself has the opposite opinion. “He has a strong view that he should testify,” Giuliani said. “He believes he’s telling the truth: He didn’t collude with the Russians and he didn’t obstruct justice.” Giuliani conceded that Trump’s habit of saying false things on a near-daily basis could create a problem for him. But, he added, that could be avoided if Trump had enough time to prepare for a session with Mueller. “If we sat him down for an interview, we would be careful that it would be a solid explanation,” Giuliani said. He added that he has not asked Trump to stop issuing tweets about the investigation ― based on his unsuccessful attempts to persuade Trump to stop tweeting during the 2016 campaign. “No use,” he said. “Didn’t work.” But Giuliani has come up with a strategy he thinks might be working: taking a higher profile with inflammatory public comments of his own. “It’s one of the reasons I’ve become so aggressive, so his tweeting would be confined to the subject that we’ve chosen for the day,” he said. Giuliani said the cancellation of the trip to Singapore next month opens up more time for him and Trump to plan strategy, in addition to the daily or twice-a-day phone calls they have been sharing. He said he met Trump for half an hour Wednesday evening in New York City, where Trump had traveled for a fundraiser. “That half hour was devoted to the investigation,” Giuliani said. The U.S. intelligence community concluded during the 2016 campaign that Russia was interfering in the U.S. election, and was actively trying to help Trump and hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The FBI began its probe of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians well before Election Day. Control of the investigation was shifted to special counsel Robert Mueller after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. Soon after, the president told NBC News, as well as senior Russian officials visiting the Oval Office, that he had done so because of the investigation. “The fact that he did it because of the Russian investigation is not obstruction of justice,” Giuliani said. “If he did it for that reason, that would be a legitimate reason to fire [Comey]. He works at the will of the president.” Mueller’s investigation has so far resulted in the guilty pleas of five individuals, including three former Trump campaign staffers, and the indictment of 14 other people and three companies. That total includes 13 Russians, Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and the Internet Research Agency “troll farm” that was used to create and disseminate propaganda to help Trump win. A related investigation by Giuliani’s former office is examining the dealings of longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. A former business partner has agreed to cooperate in that probe and plead to New York State charges. Giuliani, though, said Mueller’s investigation thus far has been tangential to Trump, and asserted that none of those who have pleaded guilty or are under indictment have any information that can hurt Trump. “They haven’t gotten anyone to flip on this,” Giuliani said, using courthouse slang for those accused of crimes to testify against associates in return for leniency. “They’re not going to do it on the bullshit that they have. Manafort’s not flipping. Cohen’s not flipping. And he has nothing to flip about.” This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 05-24-18 01:18pm - 2404 days | #744 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
And justice for all. Except if you are black, Mexican, or some other minority. The cop should have just shot the black man, and claimed self-defense. The black man had parked his vehicle across multiple handicapped spaces in an empty drug-store parking lot at 2 a.m. on Jan. 26. But instead of issuing a parking ticket, the cop called for backup, more cops arrived, they forced the black man to the ground, tased him multiple times, handcuffed him, arrested him, took him to jail. Unfortunately, the incident was captured on camera. So the charges against the black man were dropped. The officers were penalized. The main officer (the one who started the incident) apparently got a 2-day suspension. What is really funny: Making matters worse, the Milwaukee Police Association not only excused the actions of all officers involved — instead placing blame on Brown and city leadership for understaffing the department — but preemptively warned the public that “the death of subjects” may result from similar scenarios. So if a cop beats on you, your safest response is to lay down and take it. Because even if you offer no resistance, and it's caught on video, the cop has the legal right to beat on you, maybe even to shoot you, if he feels threatened. Or maybe if he got into a fight with his girlfriend, and wants to take out his frustrations on you. Citizens who feel their civil rights have been violated can sue. But even if the citizen wins monetary damages, who pays the bill? The public, not the police department or the officers involved, end up paying the bill. No accountability. Which is why cops shoot people dead, and get away with it. -------- -------- Yahoo Sports Report: Milwaukee police suspend officer in Sterling Brown incident for just 2 days Yahoo Sports Ben Rohrbach,Yahoo Sports 1 hour 13 minutes ago With a startling lack of self-awareness, the Milwaukee Police Department has issued a two-day suspension for the officer whose actions first escalated the incident involving Milwaukee Bucks rookie Sterling Brown outside a Walgreens this past January, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The department also suspended a pair of supervisors who arrived on the scene for 10 and 15 days, and more officers received warnings, the report said. Milwaukee police did not name any of the officers in question, but the Journal Sentinel identified the officer first on scene as Joseph Grams. Video released by the department on Wednesday showed Grams approaching Brown outside his vehicle, which was parked across multiple handicapped spaces in an empty drug-store parking lot at 2 a.m. on Jan. 26. The officer called for backup, harassed Brown and accused him of “getting up in” his face, which did not happen on camera. At least half a dozen more officers arrived on scene, where Brown was ultimately tackled and tased by multiple officers despite no visual signs of resistance. Milwaukee Police Department’s apology falls short Milwaukee police chief Alfonso Morales apologized on behalf of the department in a prepared statement for a press conference conducted prior to the video’s release. He did not take questions. “During the encounter, Mr. Brown was decentralized, tased and arrested,” he said. “The department conducted an investigation into the incident which revealed members acted inappropriately, and those members were recently disciplined. Criminal charges against Mr. Brown were not pursued.” We now know the brevity of that discipline. Police captain Steven Caballero told reporters that the department will release the officers’ identities “once all statutory requirements have been met.” Milwaukee mayor ‘offended’ by police conduct The department’s actions came under heavy fire even before the video’s release, when Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett braced the city for the disturbing behavior of several officers in the incident. “As a human being, I am offended by what I saw on the video,” Barrett said from a press conference later on Wednesday. “As mayor, I am committed to improving police-community relations. Mr. Brown deserves an apology. I am very sorry the Milwaukee police treated him in the fashion he was treated.” Milwaukee police arrested Bucks guard Sterling Brown for allegedly resisting an officer. (AP) Bucks call police behavior ‘shameful’ and ‘inexcusable’ Likewise, the Bucks issued a statement expressing support for Brown and shame for the department: “The abuse and intimidation that Sterling experienced at the hands of Milwaukee Police was shameful and inexcusable. Sterling has our full support as he shares his story and takes action to provide accountability. Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated case. It shouldn’t require an incident involving a professional athlete to draw attention to the fact that vulnerable people in our communities have experienced similar, and even worse, treatment. Sterling Brown filing lawsuit against Milwaukee police Brown told the Journal Sentinel earlier this week that he will file a civil-rights lawsuit against the Milwaukee police, and he issued a statement through the Bucks charging the department with “police intimidation, followed by the unlawful use of physical force, including being handcuffed and tased, and then unlawfully booked.” He likened the incident to others like it across the country “every day.” “The common denominator in all of these situations has been racism towards the minority community, the abuse of power, and the lack of accountability for officers involved,” Brown said in a statement after the video’s release. “The lack of repercussions for the police officers involved in so many of these cases is offensive. This is a slap in the face to the victims’ families and communities.” A day later, we learned of Grams’ two-day suspension, reinforcing Brown’s point about repercussions. Police union accepts zero responsibility Making matters worse, the Milwaukee Police Association not only excused the actions of all officers involved — instead placing blame on Brown and city leadership for understaffing the department — but preemptively warned the public that “the death of subjects” may result from similar scenarios. Because a handful of police officers failed to issue a parking ticket and send Brown on his way. Morales “vowed to rebuild trust between the Milwaukee Police Department and the community” during his statement on Wednesday, but his department’s slap on the wrist for the offending officer and the union’s refusal to acknowledge a problem only serve to enable this behavior to continue. – – – – – – – Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. | |
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| 05-24-18 12:54pm - 2404 days | #743 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
My hope is that Trump will still win the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Why? If Trump becomes too enraged, he might decide to fire missiles at people and countries he thinks are his enemies. That could be dangerous. Better to give Trump what he wants, the Nobel Peace Prize, and everlasting peace and wealth on earth (and increasing millions to the Trump organization). Much better. And safer. Than an enraged leader who threatens to rain down fire from the sky with nuclear missiles. ---------- ---------- Politics Twitter Critics Mercilessly Mock Trump For Canceling Summit With Kim HuffPost David Moye,HuffPost 3 hours ago If you thought President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel his planned summit with Kim Jong Un would go unnoticed by the Internet, you were sadly mistaken. Once Twitter saw the letter Trump sent the North Korean dictator, people immediately began mercilessly mocking what they saw as a blatant effort to save face in the face of failure. Some people had questions: Some pointed out the similarities between the two leaders: Others pointed out that Trump’s angry letter pulling out of the meeting was written after the Korean leader threatened to cancel. Some people offered their own theories for why Trump ditched the meeting. More than a few people noticed that the tone of Trump’s letter seemed less like a political statement than like a note between two people in an unstable romance: A few observed that this means Trump’s chances of a Nobel Peace Prize were probably kaput: Others smelled opportunity: And some just had to gloat: Finally, one man had words of advice ― not for Trump, but for journalists covering him. For more news videos visit Yahoo View. This article originally appeared on Huffpost | |
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| 05-24-18 12:27pm - 2404 days | #742 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
South Korea responds to Trump's cancellation of Kim Jong Un summit. South Korea is confused. Why did Trump cancel? Trump is the master of cruel, bullying tweets. But if N Korea tweets, fuck them. Cancel the meeting. However, there is still the possibility that S Korea can nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Why? Everyone wants to make nice to Trump, because he can give out millions or billions of dollars to his friends and allies, and business partners. Can anyone spell China? Which might not be a legal business partner, but China just invested $500 million to $1 billion US dollars in a Trump project. Call it a bribe. What will Trump do to pay back this investment? Help out ZTE, the China phone company that has been slapped with US sanctions that would cripple the China company from operating. You help me, I help you. (But illegal as hell, according to the US Constitution.) ------------- ------------- South Korea responds to Trump’s sudden cancellation of Kim Jong Un summit HuffPost US Willa Frej May 24th 2018 11:36AM South Korea was at a loss for words Thursday after President Donald Trump’s announcement that he was scrapping next month’s planned nuclear summit with North Korea. “We are attempting to make sense of what, precisely, President Trump means” South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a statement. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, testifying on Capitol Hill, wouldn’t comment on whether Trump’s letter blindsided the South Koreans. The summit’s fate was thrown into question after North Korea backed away from the Trump administration’s demands to fully denuclearize. Trump then appeared to soften the demand, hinting first that he was flexible, but then saying there would be no meeting without full denuclearization. Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence sparked further North Korean outrage with comments comparing North Korea with Libya. Just hours before Trump pulled the trigger to cancel the meeting, North Korean officials called Pence a “political dummy” and threatened to pull out of the summit themselves. “Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” Trump wrote in a letter to Kim shared with reporters on Thursday. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 05-24-18 10:48am - 2405 days | #4 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
A few questions come to mind: -Use the free service, or the premium service. The free service, you don't have to give your legal name, address, other identifying data. I assume. They will have your IP address, and a record of your log-in, so I assume the government would be able to track you down, or keep a record of your activity, since that's what governments seem to do. -The premium service you have to pay for, so that means giving your legal name, and probably other data such as address, and-depending on how you pay for the service, your age, and a window into some of your financial records. How secure is this personal data? One of the articles states that Pornhub has been hacked in the past. So it will almost certainly be hacked in the future. So you are exposing yourself to having your legal name outed: by illegal hackers, by the government. So, do you use Pornhub VPN? For a flimsy-seeming privacy? And you can bet, dollars to doughnuts, that the Pornhub owners/operators will be using and selling your data to make as much money as they can. Anyone care to chime in on why they would join or use Pornhub VPN? | |
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| 05-24-18 10:31am - 2405 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Pornhub launches new VPN service called VPNhub It's a brave new world. By Marcus Gilmer 3 hours ago Want to keep your porn viewing habits private? Pornhub can help. Pornhub is launching a new VPN service on Thursday. VPNhub, according to a statement from VP Corey Price, can be used for private, anonymous internet usage and features encrypted connections that utilize "1,000 servers in 15+ countries" and offer "unlimited bandwidth." If you're actually a frequent user of Pornhub, this makes perfect sense. And even if you don't use Pornhub (right, of course), it still works as another viable, free option to add to the list of VPN choices. There's a premium plan, too, featuring no ads, faster connection speeds, and more countries for logging in. That fancy version will run you $12.99/month or $90 ($7.50/month) for a 12-month subscription. It's an interesting move for Pornhub because, well, nothing about the VPN service requires you to watch porn. Sure, it's perfectly aimed at those who frequently visit the site over a shared internet connection in places like their homes or hotels (as opposed to, say, a Starbucks). But there's no reason you can't use it even if you don't care about adult-themed sites. I gave the beta version a whirl, and it certainly seemed to work a-okay for me, exactly like a VPN should. SEE ALSO: Do you need a VPN? Quite possibly. Here's why. Of course, protecting user privacy — and the user's data — is important business, and convincing users who may be skeptical of a service connected to a porn site to trust VPNhub may be a hurdle, whether it's warranted or not. In April, security issues with several popular VPNs made headlines as it was discovered they were leaking data due to Chrome. It's a good reason to maintain frequent checks on your VPN to make sure it stays up to snuff, no matter which service you use. | |
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| 05-24-18 10:30am - 2405 days | #2 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Engadget Pornhub made a VPN Engadget Daniel Cooper,Engadget 3 hours ago Arguably the biggest adult video website on the planet, Pornhub is responsible Arguably the biggest adult video website on the planet, Pornhub is responsible for plenty of folks getting their rocks off each day. But, as regulations on the internet trend rightward, access to adult content is becoming a problem. That's why the site is launching VPNhub, a Pornhub owned-and-operated VPN that will theoretically keep your browsing activity free from the prying eyes of snoopers and censors. VPNhub is launching today, and offers "free and unlimited bandwidth" on your platform of choice, as long as it's iOS, Android, Windows and Mac OS (although the last two are premium-only). "With 90 million visitors a day, the vast majority of whom are using devices on the go," said Pornhub VP Corey Price, "it's especially important that we continue to ensure the privacy of our users." The company claims that VPNhub has 1,000 servers in more than 15 countries, and that it will not log user data or browsing activity itself. It is, however, ad-supported, with users required to cough up for VPNhub Premium to remove the ads, and to use the desktop versions of the platform. Pornhub's parent, Mindgeek, does not have a great reputation for security. A 2012 breach of subsidiary sites YouPorn and Digital Playground exposed the details of more than 1.1 million users. In 2016, Brazzers' forum was hacked, with 800,000 members being outed. In 2017, Pornhub unwittingly hosted a malvertising attack that was in operation for more than a year. VPNhub is going to be available in the UK, despite the fact that it would likely be used to circumvent the country's forthcoming age-verification law. The oft-delayed regime will insist that people prove that they are over 18 before being able to access adult content, and Mindgeek is offering its AgeID platform to manage it. Engadget asked about this potential conflict to Corey Price, who said that "VPNhub is a separate service and not related to AgeID." Price later added that the VPN will "provide users with an encrypted tunnel through which they can anonymously browse the internet securely." VPNhub is available globally, with the exception of countries that the US bans its companies from dealing with. That list includes Burma, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, while there are also reports of bans in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and China. Your mileage, then, may vary. VPNhub This article originally appeared on Engadget. | |
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| 05-24-18 10:26am - 2405 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Yahoo Technology Pornhub has its own VPN now Brian Heater,TechCrunch 2 hours 6 minutes ago Pornhub is diversifying. The most popular site that no one you know will admit Pornhub is diversifying. The most popular site that no one you know will admit to frequenting, is launching its very own VPN service today, called, get this: VPNHub. The app, which is available on Android, iOS, MacOS and Windows, is primarily designed to offer "free and unlimited bandwidth,” according to its creators. It’s an attempt to circumvent ISP throttling, a potential boon for those who frequently visit sites with lot of video. Sites like, well, PornHub. "With 90 million visitors a day, the vast majority of whom are using devices on the go, it’s especially important that we continue to ensure the privacy of our users,” VP Corey Price said in a statement. The app is free on the aforementioned mobile platforms, but there’s a premium for desktop users. Another higher tier will drop ads, offer faster connection speeds and provide logins in additional countries, according to the company. That one runs either $13 a month or $90 for a full year subscription. Of course, there are some privacy concerns to contend with, including some security issues that have arisen in recent months. This WTF is a VPN primer should good you a good overview of what you’re contending with a bit more broadly. “Assume that all the free VPN apps that you see in the App Store and Google Play are free for a reason,” Romain wrote in the piece. “They’ll analyze your browsing habits, sell them to advertisers, inject their own ads on non-secure pages or steal your identity. You should avoid free VPNs at all costs.” So, keep that in mind. If you want to take the leap, however, the service is available now. There’s also a free seven-day trial for the premium version. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. | |
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| 05-24-18 10:05am - 2405 days | #741 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
In an interview, Work said he was not aware during his visit that anything was amiss. Nor was he briefed later on the investigation. He said he wouldn't have expected to be briefed unless the Air Force found that LSD or other illegal drugs were a "systemic problem" for the nuclear force, beyond the security forces group at F.E. Warren. Work said he had never heard of LSD use anywhere in the nuclear workforce. For the inexperienced members of the drug ring, Harris, the ringleader, had set out several "rules" for LSD use at a gathering of several airmen in a Cheyenne apartment in late 2015 that was recorded on video. Rule No. 1: "No social media at all." He added: "No bad trips. Everybody's happy right now. Let's keep it that way." But social media proved their undoing. In March 2016, one member posted a Snapchat video of himself smoking marijuana, setting Air Force investigators on their trail. As the investigators closed in, one of the accused, Airman 1st Class Devin R. Hagarty, grabbed a backpack and cash, text-messaged his mother that he loved her, turned off his cellphone and fled to Mexico. "I started panicking," he told a military judge after giving himself up and being charged with desertion. The Air Force said Hagarty was the first convicted deserter from an ICBM base since January 2013. In court, he admitted using LSD four times in 2015-16 and distributing it once, and he said he had deserted with the intention of never returning. He also admitted to using cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana multiple times. He was sentenced to 13 months in a military jail. In all, disciplinary action was taken against 14 airmen. In addition, two accused airmen were acquitted at courts martial, and three other suspects were not charged. | |
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| 05-24-18 10:04am - 2405 days | #740 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Security troops on US nuclear missile base took LSD. Your civilian tax dollars at work. Why didn't they fire off a few missiles, so we could all have a show? Or, maybe launch a couple dozen at Washington, so we could have better leadership? Enquiring minds want to know. The punishment for taking LSD, cocaine and other drugs: a slap on the wrist. A civilian would normally face severe penalties for taking or selling these drugs, but the Air Force is different: boys will be boys, wink wink. ---------- ---------- Security troops on US nuclear missile base took LSD Associated Press ROBERT BURNS,Associated Press 5 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) — One airman said he felt paranoia. Another marveled at the vibrant colors. A third admitted, "I absolutely just loved altering my mind." Meet service members entrusted with guarding nuclear missiles that are among the most powerful in America's arsenal. Air Force records obtained by The Associated Press show they bought, distributed and used the hallucinogen LSD and other mind-altering illegal drugs as part of a ring that operated undetected for months on a highly secure military base in Wyoming. After investigators closed in, one airman deserted to Mexico. "Although this sounds like something from a movie, it isn't," said Capt. Charles Grimsley, the lead prosecutor of one of several courts martial. A slipup on social media by one airman enabled investigators to crack the drug ring at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in March 2016, details of which are reported here for the first time. Fourteen airmen were disciplined. Six of them were convicted in courts martial of LSD use or distribution or both. None of the airmen was accused of using drugs on duty. Yet it's another blow to the reputation of the Air Force's nuclear missile corps, which is capable of unleashing hell in the form of Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs. The corps has struggled at times with misbehavior, mismanagement and low morale. Although seen by some as a backwater of the U.S. military, the missile force has returned to the spotlight as President Donald Trump has called for strengthening U.S. nuclear firepower and exchanged threats last year with North Korea. The administration's nuclear strategy calls for hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending in coming decades. The service members accused of involvement in the LSD ring were from the 90th Missile Wing, which operates one-third of the 400 Minuteman 3 missiles that stand "on alert" 24/7 in underground silos scattered across the northern Great Plains. Documents obtained by the AP over the past two years through the Freedom of Information Act tell a sordid tale of off-duty use of LSD, cocaine and other drugs in 2015 and 2016 by airmen who were supposed to be held to strict behavioral standards because of their role in securing the weapons. "It's another black eye for the Air Force — for the ICBM force in particular," says Stephen Schwartz, an independent consultant and nuclear expert. In response to AP inquiries, an Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. Uriah L. Orland, said the drug activity took place during off-duty hours. "There are multiple checks to ensure airmen who report for duty are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs and are able to execute the mission safely, securely and effectively," he said. Airman 1st Class Tommy N. Ashworth was among those who used LSD supplied by colleagues with connections to civilian drug dealers. "I felt paranoia, panic" for hours after taking a hit of acid, Ashworth said under oath at his court martial. He confessed to using LSD three times while off duty. The first time, in the summer of 2015, shook him up. "I didn't know if I was going to die that night or not," he said as a witness at another airman's drug trial. Recalling another episode with LSD, he said it felt "almost as if I was going to have like a heart attack or a heat stroke." Airman Basic Kyle S. Morrison acknowledged at his court martial that under the influence of LSD he could not have responded if recalled to duty in a nuclear security emergency. In prosecuting the cases at F.E. Warren, the Air Force asserted that LSD users can experience "profound effects" from even small amounts. It said common psychological effects include "paranoia, fear and panic, unwanted and overwhelming feelings, unwanted life-changing spiritual experiences, and flashbacks." It's unclear how long before being on duty any of the airmen had taken LSD, which stands for lysergic acid diethylamide. The drug became popularized as "acid" in the 1960s, and views since then have been widely split on its mental health risks. Although illegal in the U.S., it had been showing up so infrequently in drug tests across the military that in December 2006 the Pentagon eliminated LSD screening from standard drug-testing procedures. An internal Pentagon memo at the time said that over the previous three years only four positive specimens had been identified in 2.1 million specimens screened for LSD. Yet Air Force investigators found those implicated in the F.E. Warren drug ring used LSD on base and off, at least twice at outdoor gatherings. Some also snorted cocaine and used ecstasy. Civilians joined them in the LSD use, including some who had recently left Air Force service, according to two officials with knowledge of the investigation. The Air Force declined to discuss this. Airman 1st Class Nickolos A. Harris, said to be the leader of the drug ring, testified that he had no trouble getting LSD and other drugs from civilian sources. He pleaded guilty to using and distributing LSD and using ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana. He acknowledged using LSD eight times and distributing LSD multiple times to fellow airmen at parties in Denver and other locations from spring 2015 to early 2016. "I absolutely just loved altering my mind," he told the military judge, blaming his decisions to use hallucinogens and other drugs on his addictive personality. Other airmen testified that it was easy to obtain LSD in a liquid form spread on small tabs of perforated white paper. Airmen ingested at least one tab by placing it on their tongue. In one episode summarized by a military judge at Harris' court martial, he and other airmen watched YouTube videos and "then went longboarding on the streets of Denver while high on LSD." Harris was sentenced to 12 months in jail and other penalties, but under a pretrial agreement he avoided a punitive discharge. The lead prosecutor in that case, Air Force Capt. C. Rhodes Berry, had argued Harris should be locked up for 42 months, including nine months for the "aggravating circumstance" of undercutting public trust by using hallucinogens and other drugs on a nuclear weapons base. "I cannot think of anything more aggravating than being the ringleader of a drug ring on F.E. Warren Air Force Base," Berry said at the courts martial. In all, the AP obtained transcripts of seven courts martial proceedings, plus related documents. They provide vivid descriptions of LSD trips. "I'm dying!" one airman is quoted as exclaiming, followed by "When is this going to end?" during a "bad trip" on LSD in February 2016 at Curt Gowdy State Park, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Cheyenne, where F.E. Warren is located. A portion of that episode was video-recorded by one member of the group; a transcript of the audio was included in court records. Others said they enjoyed the drug. "Minutes felt like hours, colors seemed more vibrant and clear," Morrison testified. "In general, I felt more alive." He said he had used LSD in high school, which could have disqualified him from Air Force service; he said that his recruiter told him he should lie about it and that lying about prior drug use was "normal" in the Air Force. At his court martial, Morrison acknowledged distributing LSD on the missile base in February 2016. A month later, when summoned for questioning by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Morrison confessed and became an informant for the agency, an arrangement the Air Force said yielded legally admissible evidence against 10 other airmen. Under a pretrial agreement, he agreed to testify against other airmen and avoided a punitive discharge. He was sentenced to five months' confinement, 15 days of hard labor and loss of $5,200 in pay. Most of the airmen involved were members of two related security units at F.E. Warren — the 790th Missile Security Forces Squadron and the 90th Security Forces Squadron. Together, they are responsible for the security and defense of the nuclear weapons there as well as the missile complex. By coincidence, the No. 2 Pentagon official at the time, Robert Work, visited F.E. Warren one month before the drug investigation became public. Accompanied by an AP reporter, he watched as airmen of the 790th Missile Security Forces Squadron — whose members at the time included Harris, the accused leader of the drug ring — demonstrated how they would force their way into and regain control of a captured missile silo. Work, the deputy defense secretary, was there to assess progress in fixing problems in the ICBM force identified by then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who ordered an investigation after the AP reported on personnel, resource, training and leadership problems in 2013-14. Those problems included the firing of the general in charge of the entire ICBM force for inappropriate behavior the Air Force said was linked to alcohol abuse. A month later the AP revealed that an unpublished study prepared for the Air Force found "burnout" among nuclear missile launch officers and evidence of broader behavioral problems, including sexual assaults and domestic violence. Air Force officials say the force has since rebounded. CONTINUED: | |
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| 05-24-18 06:54am - 2405 days | #739 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Trump on NFL protesters: "Maybe they shouldn't be in the country." American people: "Maybe Trump should be in jail, where he belongs for taking graft from China as president." ------------- ------------- Trump on NFL protesters: 'Maybe they shouldn't be in the country' Yahoo Sports Jay Busbee May 24th 2018 7:54AM You knew this was coming: President Donald Trump, whose fiery comments on NFL protesters last year inflamed his populist base, gloated Thursday morning about new rules that sharply restrict pregame protests. Speaking to Fox & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade, Trump expressed satisfaction that NFL owners “did the right thing” by requiring players on the field to stand. “I don’t think people should be staying in the locker rooms, but still I think it’s good,” he said. “You have to stand proudly for the National Anthem. You shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe they shouldn’t be in the country.” “Throw the ungrateful protesters out of the country” is a red-meat take that’ll play well with the angry base, but it’s one that doesn’t even stand up to the most basic examination of American freedoms. Granted, the president has a habit of cranking every hot take up to 11, and this one does nothing but pour rocket fuel on the protest controversy’s smoldering fire. Forcing people to respect the flag isn’t generally an American value, and threatening, however absurdly, to throw someone out of the country for voicing their opinion — yes, even while on the job — is un-American on its face. The president’s words inflamed the controversy last season, and this time around, they’re likely to have the same effect. The NFL crafted this policy in part to appease Trump and avoid any critical tweets. In so doing, the league has managed to get its entire workforce disrespected in front of the country. That’s not going to play well in the locker rooms of the league, and not among a sizable contingent of the stands, either. | |
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| 05-24-18 01:53am - 2405 days | #738 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Don't tell me the US Government can lie! Say it's not true! Not just Donald Trump, but his lackeys can lie. Oh my God, the devil is let loose in the world. And Trump claims that if a "spy" spied on him during his presidential campaign, that is worse than Watergate. But here, an undercover police officer is infiltrating people who want to protest against Trump. That is right and moral. Hang the traitors, or put them in jail. But if anyone spied on Trump, heaven forbid, that is vile and against his rights as a citizen. (I guess the rights of people other than Trump don't really count.) ----------- ----------- Prosecutor lied about key evidence in Trump inauguration protester trial, judge rules The latest big setback for the crusade against Inauguration Day protesters could be its death knell. Alan Pyke May 23, 2018, 5:39 pm The federal prosecutor who has pursued hundreds of Trump inauguration protesters on unprecedented felony riot charges for over a year lied to the court about edits her team made to a key video filmed by right-wing operative James O’Keefe’s organization, a judge found Wednesday. The ruling does not guarantee that the remaining defendants in the case will go free. Judge Robert Morin agreed with defense lawyers that Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff had illegally suppressed evidence, but declined to make a final ruling on their motion to dismiss all charges in light of the government’s cheating. That motion governs only one of several clusters of defendants who may yet land in prison for marching alongside people who broke windows and threw rocks. The full video captures an undercover police officer saying of organizers from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), “I don’t think they know anything about any of the upper echelon stuff.” But that moment was edited out of the video before prosecutors turned it over to defense counsel in an earlier case, and was only discovered after the court ordered the government to hand over the full, unedited files. Withholding a police witness’s in-the-moment statement that organizers had no knowledge of the thing they’re being accused of planning is a clear violation of the laws governing evidence-sharing. Kerkhoff had previously told the court that no potentially exculpatory evidence had been withheld because the videos were only altered to conceal the identities of the police officer and the O’Keefe operative. Defense counsel has asked Morin to censure Kerkhoff for that false claim. Police deploy pepper spray on Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C., after “kettling” a large crowd. 230 people were eventually arrested and charged with felonies, seemingly without distinguishing between bystanders and those who damaged property. CREDIT: AP Photo/John Minchillo Federal prosecutors slap felony charges on more than 200 inauguration protesters The lawyers are also asking Morin to toss out all the charges, arguing that the withholding of helpful evidence over such a long period of time fundamentally undermines their fair trial rights. If Morin does decide the felony cases can proceed despite Kerkhoff’s violation of evidence rules codified in the 1963 Supreme Court decision Brady v Maryland, the lawyers say he should at the very least bar prosecutors from using any of the O’Keefe videos at trial. The edited video is the central piece of evidence in an unusual, chilling legal argument that already failed spectacularly once. An undercover operative from O’Keefe’s Project Veritas had infiltrated a planning meeting ahead of the inauguration protests and secretly filmed parts of a raucous discussion of tactics and plans for various anti-Trump marches. The video, corroborated by Metropolitan Police Department officer Brian Adelmeyer based on his attendance at the meeting on an undercover assignment, showed various people discussing various activities loosely coordinated under the banner #DisruptJ20. After a handful of marchers smashed shop windows and scrapped with riot police, MPD opted to “kettle” hundreds of people and conduct a mass arrest. More than 200 people were subsequently charged with a long list of felonies as the government sought to hold every attendee collectively guilty for the property-smashers’ actions. Protesters and cops on Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C., where federal prosecutors seek hundreds of felony convictions against people they acknowledge did not personally smash a window or assault an officer. CREDIT: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana Judge: No, wearing all black isn’t ‘inciting a riot’ The O’Keefe video was the key piece of evidence that everyone who participated in the march was party to a willful conspiracy to destroy property and stage a riot. It failed to persuade jurors in December, when Kerkhoff got skunked in the first group trial stemming from the mass arrests. Those acquittals prompted her office to drop all but 59 of the cases, supposedly narrowing the pool to people with a stronger connection to actual violent acts or planning that anticipated such violence. The first trial was a wacky affair, laden with awkward tech glitches and haunted by ghosts both partisan and ideological. The key investigator working to analyze hundreds of hours of video from the protest and arrests is a Trump fan with a history of bashing Black Lives Matter and other street protest movements. Police witnesses struggled to justify some uses of force and the decision to shoot pepper spray into crowds of detained people awaiting arrest. Lawyers and judges have argued about what “antifa” and “black bloc” mean almost as much as they’ve argued about the First Amendment implications of the collective-guilt prosecution of protesters. For all that to end with a whimper, after millions of dollars in prosecutor spending and nearly 18 months of endless disruption to the allegedly-criminal marchers’ lives, would be shocking. There’s grim irony in Kerkhoff getting tripped up by her own team’s editing of a video provided by James O’Keefe, whose career is built on deceptively editing video clips to smear progressive political organizations and other perceived enemies of the political right. This is what happens when James O’Keefe succeeds But while O’Keefe has become a laughingstock after attempted stings involving a house boat full of sex toys and an attempt at bugging a government office, the J20 trials offer a reminder of how dangerous his operation can be. Democrats joined Republicans in destroying the longstanding community organizing stalwart ACORN in 2009 based on an O’Keefe scam, ripping up one of the most effective grassroots organizations focused on the legal and economic interests of low-income families and people of color. Even when everybody knows he’s lying, as in the case of the “sting” that put him on the map a decade ago, his work can still prompt devastating outcomes if people in power don’t stand up for the truth of the matter. In 2009, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) decided to stand with O’Keefe instead of with the truth. Where Judge Morin chooses to stand in 2018 remains to be seen. The judge has promised a final ruling on the motion to dismiss the J20 charges in the week after Memorial Day. | |
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| 05-24-18 12:36am - 2405 days | #737 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Steve Bannon, a former White House aide, says Martin Luther King would be proud of Trump's presidency. Trump has been fighting to make America great again, and making blacks proud to be Americans. Go, Trump, the leader of all Americans, even the ones that came from shithole countries like Africa. Except, maybe, if there are too many black people in America, they can go back to where they came from. Let's make America white again, the way it should be. What a great idea. Trump demands total transparency. You have to have transparency. That's why he's never released his tax returns. That's why he has kept his private business interests while he is President, because he wants to know how much he is making on the side while President--which happens to be illegal, but he's been getting away with it for now. Graft? Bribes from China? How dare you try to say such terrible things. Trump is a simple businessman, after all. He does not understand what graft is, what a bribe is. So everything he does is legal and above board. That's why he demands transparency. -------- -------- Bannon: Martin Luther King Jr. would be 'proud' of what Trump's done for black, Hispanic communities Geobeats May 23rd 2018 7:48PM X Steve Bannon, a former White House aide and past executive chairman of Breitbart News, recently asserted that Martin Luther King Jr. would be “proud” of President Trump. In an interview with BBC’s ‘Newsnight,’ Bannon said, “Martin Luther King would be proud of him — what he’s done for the black and Hispanic community for jobs.” “His economic policies to black — by the way, it’s the lowest unemployment in recorded history…Look at the unemployment we had in the black community five years ago,” Bannon further commented. While the statements about unemployment statistics aren’t false, they are a bit misleading. “Black unemployment fell fairly consistently from 2010 on, as did the rates for whites and Hispanics,” according to the Washington Post. Recent declines include 1 percent in both 2017 and 2016, 1.9 percent in 2015, and 1.5 percent and 1.8 percent in 2014 and 2013, respectively. Edited on May 24, 2018, 12:42am | |
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| 05-23-18 12:08pm - 2405 days | #4 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Look at the Jonestown massacre, where over 900 people died from cyanide poisoning. Or the Waco, Texas siege, where FBI and other law enforcement agents killed over 70 civilians. It can be debated whether the FBI and other law enforcement agents killed the Waco civilians, or whether it was a giant fuck-up and who knows who is to blame. People can hold extreme beliefs. But I agree the majority of us are not that crazy. | |
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| 05-23-18 08:12am - 2406 days | #735 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
This is sad. A preacher said if a woman is abused, she should pray to God for help, and be submissive in every way to her man. And if a woman is raped by a man, she should not go to the police to complain. Instead, she should forgive the rapist. That is God's will. That must be obeyed. As a side note: this minister is probably a follower of President Trump, who believes that women are to be used. However, even though the minister was removed from his post, he was promoted to president emeritus of his church, with compensation (salary, plus whatever benefits are usual for a man of his position). ------------ ------------ Southern Baptist Leader Who Said Abused Women Should Just Pray Is Removed From Post HuffPost Willa Frej,HuffPost 2 hours 53 minutes ago A prominent Southern Baptist Church leader who is known to have made inappropriate comments about abuse and women’s bodies was removed from his position early Wednesday after thousands of evangelical women signed a petition calling for his ouster. Paige Patterson, formerly the head of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, was demoted to president emeritus of the church after a 13-hour board meeting on Tuesday, according to a statement. He will receive compensation for the position. The statement didn’t refer specifically to his comments about women, but said the discussion about the new leadership direction focused on “challenges facing the institution, including those of enrollment, financial, leadership and institutional identity.” Dr. D. Jeffrey Bingham, dean of the School of Theology, was appointed as interim president. He currently serves as the vice president of the North American Patristics Society. More than 3,200 women affiliated with Southern Baptist churches and beyond signed a petition calling for “decisive action” this month. “We are shocked by the video that has surfaced showing Dr. Paige Patterson objectify a teenage girl and then suggest this as behavior that is biblical,” the letter says. “We are further grieved by the dangerous and unwise counsel given by Dr. Patterson to women in abusive situations. His recent remarks of clarification do not repudiate his unwise counsel in the past; nor has he offered explanation or repentance for inappropriate comments regarding a teenage girl, the unbiblical teaching he offered on the biblical meaning of womanhood in that objectification, and the inappropriate nature of his own observations of her body.” A 2000 audio clip resurfaced online recently in which he counseled physically abused wives to “pray through” the situation, stay in abusive relationships, “be submissive in every way” and try as hard as possible not to get divorced. “I had a woman who was in a church that I served and she was being subject to some abuse and I told her, I said ‘All right, I want you to do this every evening,’ ” Patterson said. ”‘Get down by your bed as you go to sleep, get down by the bed when you think he’s just about asleep, pray and ask God to intervene.’ I said, ‘Get ready because he may get a little more violent when he discovers it.’” He has also joked in the past about how everyone should “own at least one” woman and has spoken inappropriately about the body of a 16-year-old girl, defending the comments by claiming it’s what the Bible says. And he reportedly encouraged a woman who had been sexually assaulted not to go to the police and instead told her to forgive the assailant, the woman told The Washington Post. Although some Southern Baptists have urged Patterson to resign, others have defended him. A petition defending him, which garnered almost 600 signatures, referred to the resurfacing of Patterson’s past comments as “malicious attacks” and “wrong.” Paige Patterson has suggested that female victims of abuse should remain submissive. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram via Getty Images) This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | |
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| 05-23-18 07:08am - 2406 days | #734 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
If you lie to the FBI, that is a crime, and you can be put in prison. But the FBI lies, and keeps smiling with a straight face. Or maybe the FBI gives a stern face, saying, "We are the law. How dare you question my integrity?" Double standard? Of course. ---------- ---------- U.S. FBI reportedly overestimated inaccessible encrypted phones by thousands Devin Coldewey,TechCrunch 13 hours ago The FBI seems to have been caught fibbing again on the topic of encrypted phones. FBI director Christopher Wray estimated in December that it had almost 7,800 phones from 2017 alone that investigators were unable to access. The real number is likely less than a quarter of that, the Washington Post reports. Internal records cited by sources put the actual number of encrypted phones at perhaps 1,200 but perhaps as many as 2,000, and the FBI told the paper in a statement that "initial assessment is that programming errors resulted in significant over-counting of mobile devices reported." Supposedly having three databases tracking the phones led to devices being counted multiple times. Such a mistake would be so elementary that it's hard to conceive of how it would be possible. These aren't court notes, memos, or unimportant random pieces of evidence, they're physical devices with serial numbers and names attached. The idea that no one thought to check for duplicates before giving a number to the director for testimony in Congress suggests either conspiracy or gross incompetence. The latter seems more likely after a report by the Office of the Inspector General that found the FBI had failed to utilize its own resources to access locked phones, instead suing Apple and then hastily withdrawing the case when its basis (a locked phone from a terror attack) was removed. It seems to have chosen to downplay or ignore its own capabilities in order to pursue the narrative that widespread encryption is dangerous without a backdoor for law enforcement. An audit is underway at the Bureau to figure out just how many phones it actually has that it can't access, and hopefully how this all happened. It is unmistakably among the FBI's goals has been to emphasize the problem of devices being fully encrypted and inaccessible to authorities, a trend known as "going dark." That much it has said publicly, and it is a serious problem for law enforcement. But it seems equally unmistakable that the Bureau is happy to be sloppy, deceptive, or both in its advancement of a tailored narrative. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. U.S. FBI repeatedly overstated encryption threat figures to Congress, public Los Angeles Daily News 19 hours ago The FBI has repeatedly provided grossly inflated statistics to Congress and the public about the extent of problems posed by encrypted cellphones, claiming investigators were locked out of nearly 7,800 devices connected to crimes last year when the correct number was much smaller, probably between 1,000 and 2,000, The Washington Post has learned. Over a period of seven months, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray cited the inflated figure as the most compelling evidence for the need to address what the FBI calls “Going Dark” — the spread of encrypted software that can block investigators’ access to digital data even with a court order. The FBI first became aware of their phone-counting problem about a month ago, and still does not have an accurate count of how many encrypted phones they received as part of criminal investigations last year, officials said. ... Read more U.S. FBI inflated the number of encrypted devices it can't access Fox News 1 hour 1 minute ago For the past several months, the FBI has been claiming that encryption has prevented the agency from accessing around 7,000 mobile devices connected to various crimes. But it turns out that number is very wrong. On Tuesday, the FBI told PCMag that a programming error resulted in a "significant overcounting" of the encrypted devices. "The FBI is currently conducting an in-depth review of how this over-counting previously occurred," the agency said in a statement. The news was first reported by The Washington Post, which said the correct number is probably between 1,000 and 2,000 devices. One internal estimate from the FBI puts the figure at 1,200, but the agency plans to launch an audit to get the full number, The Post said, citing unnamed sources. The mistake seriously undercuts one of the FBI's central arguments in the ongoing encryption debate. For years now, the agency has been pushing for what critics call a "backdoor" into smartphone products that'll let federal agents easily unlock mobile devices tied to crimes. Without such access, some investigations may grind to halt, the agency claims. | |
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| 05-22-18 05:49pm - 2406 days | #733 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Judge orders law firm of Stormy Daniels' lawyer to pay $10M Associated Press MICHAEL BALSAMO,Associated Press 35 minutes ago LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge in California ordered a law firm linked to Stormy Daniels' attorney to pay $10 million on Tuesday to a lawyer who claimed that the firm had misstated its profits and that he was owed millions. The judgment came after Jason Frank, who used to work at Eagan Avenatti, alleged that that the law firm failed to pay a $4.85 million settlement he had reached in December. He said in court papers that the settlement was personally guaranteed by Michael Avenatti, who has garnered national attention as the attorney for Daniels, the porn actress who is suing President Donald Trump following an alleged 2006 affair. Frank had worked at Avenatti's firm under an independent contractor agreement and was supposed to collect 25 percent of the firm's annual profits, along with 20 percent of fees his clients paid, according to court documents. He resigned in May 2016 after alleging that the firm didn't pay him millions of dollars that he was owed, misstated the firm's profits and wouldn't provide copies of tax returns and other financial documents. After he resigned, Frank brought the case to a panel of arbitrators, who found that the firm "acted with malice, fraud, and oppression by hiding its revenue numbers," according to a copy of the arbitration report included in court documents. In December, Frank settled with Avenatti's firm for a total of $4.85 million, which was supposed to include an initial $2 million payment and then a second payment for $2.85 million. The $2 million payment was supposed to be made by May 14, but Avenatti and his firm never paid, Frank said in court papers. The settlement agreement included a clause that the firm couldn't oppose a request for a $10 million judgment if the settlement payments weren't made within three days of the due date. Frank did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment on Tuesday. The judgment is final and cannot be appealed, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Catherine Bauer said in her ruling. Court records in the bankruptcy proceeding also show Avenatti had personally agreed to pay about $2.4 million in back taxes and penalties. During Tuesday's hearing, an assistant U.S. attorney said Avenatti had not made a payment that was due last week for unpaid taxes as part of the agreement that was reached in January. Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, said lawyers from that office represent the government in bankruptcy court when there's a debt to a government agency, like back taxes or unpaid student loans. Avenatti told The Associated Press that he would not discuss "irrelevant nonsense" and wouldn't answer specific questions about the case. Court documents say Avenatti is the "managing member and majority equity holder" of Eagan Avenatti and "solely owns and controls" another firm, Avenatti & Associates, which represents Daniels. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and has sued to invalidate the confidentiality agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election that prevents her discussing it. She's also suing Trump and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, alleging defamation. ___ Associated Press journalist Catherine Lucey in Washington contributed to this report. | |
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| 05-22-18 02:42pm - 2406 days | #732 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
By Jacqueline Alemany CBS News May 22, 2018, 2:08 PM EPA bars reporters from attending summit led by Scott Pruitt The Environmental Protection Agency barred reporters from The Associated Press, CNN and other media organizations from attending a national summit on water contaminants, led by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday morning. One reporter says she was "forcibly removed" from the event. CBS News, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, the Hill and a handful of other news organizations did attend the kickoff of the EPA's two-day summit that included representatives from 38 states from around the country to discuss polyfluoroalkyl substances — chemical water contaminants widely used in commercial substances found to have adverse health effects in lower quantities than initially recognized by the EPA. E&E News tweeted that its reporter Corbin Hiar tweeted that reporters from his outlet, The AP, and CNN had been "selectively shut out" from covering the event. "This morning's PFAS Leadership Summit at @EPA headquarters is open to the press... just not to reporters from @EENewsUpdates, @AP or @CNN. We've all asked the agency's press office why we're being selectively shut out and have gotten no responses," he wrote. This morning's PFAS Leadership Summit at @EPA headquarters is open to the press... just not to reporters from @EENewsUpdates, @AP or @CNN. We've all asked the agency's press office why we're being selectively shut out and have gotten no responses. — Corbin Hiar (@CorbinHiar) May 22, 2018 EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox told CBS News in a statement that their exclusion was a matter of room capacity. "This was simply an issue of the room reaching capacity, which reporters were aware of prior to the event," he said. "We were able to accommodate 10 reporters, provided a livestream for those we could not accommodate and were unaware of the individual situation that has been reported." EPA opened the second portion of the summit to press. CBS News' Caitlin Conant contributed to this report. | |
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| 05-22-18 02:30pm - 2406 days | #731 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I'm glad Stormy Daniels lawyer, Avenatti, is giving us some insight into the Stormy Daniels case and the Cohen-Trump connection. If we depended on Cohen-Trump for news, all we would hear is denials and lies. If we depended on the Special Prosecution, all we would hear is silence, until months or years from now. ------------ ------------ Stormy Daniels lawyer alleges Cohen is leaking recordings seized in FBI raids By Jacqueline Thomsen - 05/22/18 04:49 PM EDT Stormy Daniels lawyer alleges Cohen is leaking recordings seized in FBI raids Getty ImagesStormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti is alleging that President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen may have selectively leaked audio recordings seized during the FBI raid on his office to the media. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood on Tuesday, Avenatti states that he has “reason to believe” that Cohen or members of his team are leaking the recordings, and that the recordings may be related to Daniels. “We think that these select leaks are meant to paint a false narrative relating to Mr. Cohen and his business dealings at the same time he is not disclosing numerous other recordings of him speaking with individuals such as Mr. Trump,” the letter states. Avenatti requested that the court ask whether Cohen or members of his team leaked the recordings. The Hill has reached out to Cohen’s attorney for comment. It’s not clear which recordings Avenatti is referring to in the letter, or which media outlets he claims have received the recordings. ABC News reported that FBI agents had seized recordings during the raids on Cohen’s office, hotel room and home last month. Trump associates told the Washington Post at the time of the raids that they feared FBI agents could have taken Cohen’s secret recordings of conversations, which included discussions about both business and politics. A so-called special master has been appointed to review the evidence seized in the raids to determine which records are protected by attorney-client privilege and which ones can be handed over to federal prosecutors. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing Cohen for defamation for suggesting that she is lying about her alleged affair with Trump. The attorney is also under criminal investigation. | |
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| 05-22-18 02:24pm - 2406 days | #730 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Schwarzenegger to Pruitt: Drink contaminated water 'until you tap out or resign' By Jacqueline Thomsen - 05/16/18 02:40 PM EDT Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted a jab at Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt on Wednesday after reports that the EPA intervened to stop the publication of a federal study that would have set stricter levels for toxic chemicals in drinking water. “I’m a simple guy so I have a simple remedy when people like Pruitt ignore or hide pollution: if you don’t have a problem with Americans drinking contaminated drinking water, drink it yourself until you tap out or resign,” Schwarzenegger tweeted. I’m a simple guy so I have a simple remedy when people like Pruitt ignore or hide pollution: if you don’t have a problem with Americans drinking contaminated drinking water, drink it yourself until you tap out or resign. https://t.co/RwPpGJPthE — Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) May 16, 2018 The former California governor’s suggestion follows the release of internal Trump administration emails this week that showed EPA officials were concerned about a public relations “nightmare” that could stem from another agency's expected plans to strengthen standards for fluorinated chemicals in water. Their suggestion would set safe levels for the chemicals at almost one-sixth of the EPA's current suggested standard. Politico first reported on the emails on Monday. Fluorinated chemicals are used in products like hoses to reduce emissions for vehicles and stain resistance for clothing, but are also associated with major health risks including kidney and testicular cancer. Pruitt is facing several probes for a number of ethics issues, including his use of first-class travel, his rental of a condo co-owned by the wife of a then-energy lobbyist and his use of private email accounts for official EPA business. He is already under pressure to resign from some critics because of those issues. Pruitt, testifying before senators on Wednesday, said that some of the decisions leading to the scandals were not handled properly. “There have been decisions over the last 16 months or so that, as I look back on those decisions, I would not make the same decisions again,” he said. Miranda Green contributed to this report, which was updated at 3:12 p.m. | |
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| 05-22-18 02:14pm - 2406 days | #729 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Bad news for Stormy Daniels lawyer? His firm is hit with a $10 million judgment. But the lawyer, Avenatti, says they have confused him with an unrelated legal entity. I hope that's true, because Stormy Daniels needs all the help she can get, in her fight with Cohen and Trump. -------- -------- Firm of Stormy Daniels lawyer hit with $10 million judgment By Josh Delk - 05/22/18 03:50 PM EDT Firm of Stormy Daniels lawyer hit with $10 million judgment Getty ImagesThe law firm of Michael Avenatti, who represents adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, was served with a $10 million settlement fine on Tuesday in bankruptcy court over a lapsed payment agreement. The Eagan Avenatti law firm will be required to pay the sum after Avenatti failed to follow through in paying $2 million to a former associate, Jason Frank, to settle the firm's bankruptcy, according to the Los Angeles Times. Avenatti's firm also owes back taxes to the IRS that includes more than $1.3 million in employee taxes that it never handed over to the government, the Justice Department reportedly said at the hearing. The name partner, who agreed to personally pay back $1.5 million of the total sum, has missed an installment and will reportedly soon face legal action by the federal government to demand payment. Despite his position as the lead equity partner in the firm, Avenatti told the Times that they had confused him with an unrelated legal entity. Avenatti is handling the legal affairs of Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, as she pursues legal action to nullify a nondisclosure agreement regarding her alleged affair with President Trump more than a decade ago. Avenatti has said that all of his legal fees are paid by Clifford and a crowd-funding website that urges supporters to contribute to their efforts. The lawyer has become a constant presence on cable news networks, where he often disparages the lawyers for Trump and hints at new developments in the legal case. | |
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| 05-22-18 01:12pm - 2406 days | #728 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Can you say cover-up? The FBI needs to investigate the entire Trump administation. Put them in jail before they destroy and delete records that will bring them down, leading to jail terms for corruption and graft and other crimes. The treasury secretary should be indicted and removed from office for derelection of duty: Hiding or losing financial records. "“There is no excuse whatsoever for anybody who has access to these important systems to release information on an unauthorized basis,” Mnuchin said. And why would anyone release information to the public? Because they fear the government will either hide or destroy the financial documents. Put Mnuchin in jail, for obstruction of justice. He's one of Trump's lackeys, who will repeat Trump's lies to the public, while allowing important papers to go missing. ------------ ------------ Mnuchin says Cohen’s financial records are missing By Mark Moore May 22, 2018 | 2:44pm | Updated Modal Trigger Mnuchin says Cohen’s financial records are missing Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said financial records of President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen appear to be missing from his agency and the inspector general is investigating. “Our inspector general is reviewing the issue of leaks. There is the appearance that some of the information may have gone out,” Mnuchin told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. The New Yorker last week wrote about a law enforcement official who released documents to the media about Cohen’s banking records because he thought the information was being hidden. “There is no excuse whatsoever for anybody who has access to these important systems to release information on an unauthorized basis,” Mnuchin said. He added that procedures do exist at Treasury to “suppress important information” for law enforcement reasons, but would not comment on “whether this was or was not done” with the Suspicious Activity Reports on Cohen’s accounts in a Treasury database. Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, publicly released information from those accounts, showing that Cohen had received payments from a number of corporations, including one firm connected to a Russian oligarch. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 weeks before the 2016 election to remain quiet about an affair she alleges she had with Trump a decade earlier. | |
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| 05-22-18 10:08am - 2407 days | #727 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
News flash of the day, maybe even the week: DHS secretary says she is unaware Russia wanted Trump to win. Of course. Even if she is a moron, she knows if she said she was aware Russia wanted Trump to win, she would be out of a job, with Trump tweeting "Good riddance to bad trash". So what else can she say? Trump rewards loyalty, and demands that his appointees lie for him, or they are out of job. Trump, probably the most corrupt President the US ever had. A true slimeball. And if the DHS secretary happened to read an intelligence report stating that Trump was aided by Russia, she would deny the report, unless she was forced to confess the truth by waterboarding, a technique Trump wants to use on his enemies (anyone who is not fervently pro-Trump), but calls anyone who opposes him a traitor, coward and slimeball. Trump, the biggest bully in the US. The biggest liar in the US. The biggest slimeball in the US. ---------- ---------- DHS secretary says she's unaware Russia wanted Trump to win Associated Press JILL COLVIN and COLLEEN LONG,Associated Press 20 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Tuesday that she was unaware of intelligence assessments concluding that Russia favored President Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. The U.S. intelligence community said in a January 2017 assessment that Russia had tried to influence the election to benefit Trump. "I do not believe I've seen that conclusion that the specific intent was to help President Trump win. I'm not aware of that," Nielsen said, responding to a reporter's question after briefing House members on election security efforts. She said she believed the Russians have attempted to manipulate public confidence on both sides. "We've seen them encourage people to go to a protest on one side. We've seen them simultaneously encourage people to go to that same protest on the other side. So I think what they're trying to do, in my opinion, and I defer to the Intel community is just disrupt our belief in our own understanding of what's happening." A spokesman for the department said later that Nielsen had previously reviewed the assessment — but it was nuanced, and the question asked by a reporter didn't reflect that nuance. "So the secretary correctly stated she had not seen the conclusion as characterized by the reporter," spokesman Tyler Houlton said in a statement. The question the reporter had asked was: "Do you any reason to doubt the Jan 2017 intelligence community assessment that said it was Vladimir Putin who meddled in the election to help President Trump win?" Trump has expressed skepticism over whether the Russians tried to help him win the election. But the Senate intelligence committee said last week that it agrees with the intelligence agencies' assessment. That was at odds with Republican members of the House intelligence committee, who said that while Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to hamper Clinton's campaign, that didn't mean he wanted to help Trump. The House committee said the intelligence agencies failed to use "proper analytic tradecraft" when they assessed Putin's intentions. The top Democrat on the intelligence panel, Mark Warner, sent out a list a list of three separate occasions where the report of Russia's attempt to sway the election was made public. And Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and ranking member of the House homeland security committee, said he'd personally deliver Nielsen a copy. "This report is over a year old, has stood the test of time, was agreed to by the entire Intelligence Community, and was backed up by Senate investigators," he said in a statement. About two weeks ago, the president unloaded on Nielsen at a heated Cabinet meeting — railing against her for failing to stop illegal border crossings. HuffPost | |
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