Jeffrey Epstein case: Federal prosecutors broke law, judge says. Federal prosecutors, under former Miami U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, broke the law when they concealed a plea agreement from more than 30 underage victims who had been sexually abused by wealthy New York hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, a federal judge ruled Thursday. While the decision marks a victory for crime victims, the federal judge, Kenneth A. Marra, stopped short of overturning Epstein’s plea deal, or issuing an order resolving the case. He instead gave federal prosecutors 15 days to confer with Epstein’s victims and their attorneys to come up with a settlement. It’s not clear whether the victims, now in their late 20s and early 30s, can, as part of the settlement, demand that the government prosecute Epstein.
“As a legal matter, the non-prosecution agreement entered into by the U.S. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice announced it was opening a probe of the case in response to calls from three dozen members of Congress. Uma Sanghvi Palm Beach Post via AP. Big Pharma Family That Created Opioid Crisis Led Effort to Mislead Public. Meet Dr Miriam Adelson: the record-breaking Republican donor driving Trump's Israel policy. When Dr Miriam Adelson was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s top civilian honor, by Donald Trump in November, the public response ranged from disdainful to “who?” Her husband, the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, is widely known for his record donations to Republican causes, as well as passionate support for conservative Israeli interests.
Many news articles about the award described Miriam solely as his wife. But Miriam’s influence has been deeper than many credit, although she appears to have been perfectly comfortable remaining in her 85-year-old husband’s shadow until recently. The 73-year-old has played a pivotal role in forming the couple’s interests and alliances in the US, where she is a naturalized citizen, and in her native Israel, according to public records and interviews with people who know her socially and professionally. Miriam turns out to be far wealthier than her husband, who was ranked #21 on the Forbes 2018 billionaire ranking. Dem pollster blames Gingrich for current partisan strife. Former fossil fuels lobbyist to head interior department as Zinke exits. Ryan Zinke’s exit as interior secretary elevates a former lobbyist to the job, meaning the top two US environmental agencies will now be run by people previously paid by industry.
The deputy secretary, David Bernhardt, will take over at least temporarily when Zinke steps down at the end of the year. He also could be in the running to head the department permanently. And at the Environmental Protection Agency, the acting administrator, Andrew Wheeler, who was a coal lobbyist, will be nominated to keep the post. Bernhardt was a fossil fuels and water industry lobbyist at the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck before he joined the Trump administration.
In an ethics pledge, Bernhardt said he would wait until August 2019 to have certain interactions with his former firm and some major oil and gas companies he represented. “It’s not so much who has he helped. “The notion that he could extricate himself from benefiting his former clients is impossible.” … we have a small favour to ask.
The 15 Most Vile Republicans Who Might Actually Lose Tonight :: Politics :: Features :: Midterms. Hope is a dangerous thing. It’s election day in America, and there are many earnest, well-meaning people out there dreaming of a blue wave. The polls say Democrats should take back the House, should swing a bunch of governor’s races around the country, and should have a non-zero shot at the Senate. But many of us also remember 2016, and how the polls were dead wrong. We remember the knot in our guts as it all went pear-shaped. And even as we look at early voting numbers in Texas and think, “whoa, Beto is going to win!” I’m not saying you should eradicate all hope tonight—that’s impossible—but I am proposing a different way to watch the midterms.
What follows is a murderer’s row of vile Republicans, prominent and obscure, who have a very real chance of eating dirt on election night. Brian Kemp, Georgia: Let’s start with the man who is pulling out all the stops to steal the gubernatorial election in Paste’s home state of Georgia. Steve King, Iowa: Lots of good stuff from Rep. NPR Choice page. Megyn Kelly’s Greatest Misses: A Complete Timeline Of Her Tumultuous 21 Month Reign at NBC | Decider.
Today, multiple outlets reported that Megyn Kelly is officially out at NBC following the controversial remarks she made about blackface. Sources close to the situation told DailyMail that the Megyn Kelly Today host “is never coming back,” and they explained that due to Kelly’s “non-break deal,” she stands to walk away with as much as $69 million, the remainder of her multi-year NBC contract. “Megyn Kelly is done. She is not ever coming back,” an NBC exec told DailyMail. “We are just working out the timing of the announcement but mark my word — she is gone and will never be seen on NBC live again.” Kelly only made it 21 months at NBC, and during that time, she showed off her excellent ability for stirring up controversy. In the almost-two years Kelly was at NBC — 13 of which she spent hosting the 9 a.m. hour of Today, rebranded as Megyn Kelly Today — she came under fire for going soft on world leaders, insulting celebrities, enabling hate-mongers, and more.
Kimberly Guilfoyle was once half of a liberal power couple. Now she’s basically a Trump. Kimberly Guilfoyle was first lady of San Francisco. Now she is dating Donald Trump Jr. and vice chair of a pro-Trump super PAC. (Washington Post Staff Illustration; Getty Images) In the summer of 2004, the new mayor and first lady of San Francisco were photographed for an eight-page spread in Harper’s Bazaar. Gavin Newsom wore a thousand-dollar tuxedo, and Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom had on a black dress that was twice the price. Earlier that year, just five weeks into his tenure, the charismatic mayor had flouted California law by instructing San Francisco to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, drawing condemnation from President George W.
“The New Kennedys” was the headline across the Harper’s Bazaar spread. “Isn’t it fascinating?” Her trajectory might appear baffling, but it aligns with the mind-bending physics of the Trump era, in which ideology is second to notoriety, allowing peripheral performers proximity to the presidency. That’s one version. “I love him so much!”
Indeed. Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change. He Was Dow’s ‘Dioxin Lawyer.’ Now He’s Trump’s Choice to Run the Superfund Program. White House, EPA headed off chemical pollution study. Scott Pruitt’s EPA and the White House sought to block publication of a federal health study on a nationwide water-contamination crisis, after one Trump administration aide warned it would cause a "public relations nightmare," newly disclosed emails reveal. The intervention early this year — not previously disclosed — came as HHS' Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry was preparing to publish its assessment of a class of toxic chemicals that has contaminated water supplies near military bases, chemical plants and other sites from New York to Michigan to West Virginia.
Story Continued Below The study would show that the chemicals endanger human health at a far lower level than EPA has previously called safe, according to the emails. “The public, media, and Congressional reaction to these numbers is going to be huge,” one unidentified White House aide said in an email forwarded on Jan. 30 by James Herz, a political appointee who oversees environmental issues at the OMB. Sen. Sen. The Bible and the belt: Inside a camp for gay youth | ABC News.
Earther. Scott Pruitt: EPA Chief Faces Mounting Scrutiny For Ethics Violations. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is facing investigations into his use of taxpayer funds for security and travel along with scrutiny of his ties to industry lobbyists. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption toggle caption Andrew Harnik/AP Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is facing investigations into his use of taxpayer funds for security and travel along with scrutiny of his ties to industry lobbyists. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency is fending off multiple accusations that he misused taxpayer funds and maintained improper ties to companies regulated by the EPA. The scrutiny began months ago — the EPA Office of Inspector General started investigating Administrator Scott Pruitt's travel expenses in August 2017, after reports that he spent thousands of dollars on first-class plane tickets and a 24/7 security detail.
Beck's appointment was also emblematic of Pruitt's close ties to the industries he is bound to regulate. New CIA Deputy Director's Past Intertwined With CIA's History Of Waterboarding. The CIA's new second-in-command, Gina Haspel, is a decorated officer, serving more than three decades undercover. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images The CIA's new second-in-command, Gina Haspel, is a decorated officer, serving more than three decades undercover. Here's one side of the resume of the CIA's new second-in-command, Gina Haspel: she's a decorated officer, serving more than three decades undercover, including multiple tours as a station chief.
And here's another side: Haspel's fingerprints are all over the CIA's detention and interrogation programs. Who wrote the cable ordering their destruction? This history led Sens. "The senators who are asking questions have every right to ask them," says former Rep. That letter, dated February 10, 2003, was addressed to the CIA's then-general counsel, Scott Muller. "As a lawyer, as a trained lawyer, I know... it's not okay to destroy the evidence. "She would come into my office," he recalls. Why Toxic People Get Ahead. Roy Cohn. American lawyer (1927–1986) Thank you, dear donor! Your generosity helps keep Wikipedia thriving. Select "hide appeals" to suppress fundraising messages in this browser for a week, or go back to the appeal if you're still interested in donating. Please don't skip this 1 minute read. Hi. Thank you! Cohn was born in The Bronx in New York City and educated at Columbia University.
In 1986, he was disbarred by the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court for unethical conduct after attempting to defraud a dying client by forcing the client to sign a will amendment leaving him his fortune.[6] He died five weeks later from AIDS-related complications,[7] having vehemently denied that he was suffering from HIV. Early life and education[edit] Born to an affluent Jewish family in the Bronx, New York City, Cohn was the only child of Dora née Marcus (1892–1967)[8] and Judge Albert C. Cohn's maternal grandfather, Joseph S. Early career[edit] Rosenberg trial[edit] Sokolsky introduced G. Joseph McCarthy. American politician (1908–1957) McCarthy successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1946, defeating Robert M. La Follette Jr. After three largely undistinguished years in the Senate, McCarthy rose suddenly to national fame in February 1950, when he asserted in a speech that he had a list of "members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring" who were employed in the State Department.[9] In succeeding years after his 1950 speech, McCarthy made additional accusations of Communist infiltration into the State Department, the administration of President Harry S.
Truman, the Voice of America, and the U.S. Army. With the highly publicized Army–McCarthy hearings of 1954, and following the suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester C. Early life and education[edit] McCarthy was born in 1908 on a farm in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, the fifth of nine children.[16][17] His mother, Bridget (Tierney), was from County Tipperary, Ireland. He attended Marquette University from 1930 to 1935.
Career[edit] Edward R. 'Washington Post' Says It Foiled Apparent Sting By James O'Keefe's Activist Group. The Washington Post published video of reporter Stephanie McCrummen (left) speaking to Jaime Phillips, who claimed to be a source for a story about embattled politician Roy Moore. Days later, members of the paper's staff watched Phillips walk into the offices of activist James O'Keefe's Project Veritas organization. The Washington Post/Screenshot by NPR hide caption toggle caption The Washington Post/Screenshot by NPR The Washington Post published video of reporter Stephanie McCrummen (left) speaking to Jaime Phillips, who claimed to be a source for a story about embattled politician Roy Moore.
Days later, members of the paper's staff watched Phillips walk into the offices of activist James O'Keefe's Project Veritas organization. O'Keefe, who founded Project Veritas, is countering the newspaper's story with his own narrative, releasing secretly recorded videos of Post employees that he says prove "how shockingly one-sided their editorial team is. " From the Post: Monsanto Attacks Scientists After Studies Show Trouble For Its New Weedkiller : The Salt. Bob Scott, an expert on weeds with the University of Arkansas, in a research plot where soybeans were exposed to dicamba vapor. Dan Charles/ NPR hide caption toggle caption Dan Charles/ NPR Bob Scott, an expert on weeds with the University of Arkansas, in a research plot where soybeans were exposed to dicamba vapor. In a normal year, Kevin Bradley, a professor of weed science at the University of Missouri, would have spent his summer testing new ways to control a troublesome little plant called water hemp.
This has not been a normal year. "I don't even talk about weed management anymore," Bradley tells me, and he sounds disgusted. Dicamba, an old weedkiller that's now being used in new ways, has thrust Bradley and half a dozen other university weed scientists into the unfamiliar role of whistleblower, confronting what they believe are misleading and scientifically unfounded claims by one of the country's biggest seed and pesticide companies: Monsanto.
"It's not comfortable. Dan Charles /NPR. Exclusive: The Interior Department Scrubs Climate Change From Its Strategic Plan. In the next five years, millions of acres of America’s public lands and waters, including some national monuments and relatively pristine coastal regions, could be auctioned off for oil and gas development, with little thought for environmental consequences. That’s according to a leaked draft, obtained by The Nation, of the Department of the Interior’s strategic vision: It states that the DOI is committed to achieving “American energy dominance” through the exploitation of “vast amounts” of untapped energy reserves on public lands. Alarmingly, the policy blueprint—a 50-page document—does not once mention climate change or climate science. That’s a clear departure from current policy: The previous plan, covering 2014–18, referred to climate change 46 times and explicitly stated that the department was committed to improving resilience in those communities most directly affected by global warming.
Defend Social Security and Medicare:... - U.S. Democratic Socialists. Trump's Pick For Key Environmental Post Is A Texan Who Really, Really Likes Fossil Fuels. Kathleen Hartnett White was a top environmental regulator in Texas from 2001 to 2007. Now, President Trump has chosen her to lead the Council on Environmental Quality, which helps create and implement national policy. Hartnett White was not available for an interview, but her record since leaving state service suggests she would stand out – even in an administration proudly aligned with industry – for the fervency of her support for fossil fuels.
That fervency has defined her recent policy work. In an interview with an Oregon Christian television station last year, she warned that solar and wind energy might “disfigure the country,” phrasing her argument in quasi-messianic terms. “Fossil fuels are the remains of life – plant and animal life,” she said. “They come back through burning them to amplify our lives, to do work that we otherwise would have to do ourselves.” KUT's Mose Buchele reports. The religious right carries its golden calf into Steve Bannon’s battles. Price traveled by private plane at least 24 times. What They Want to Hide Tells You Who They Are.
Sessions. Kushner - Predatory capitalist. B. DeVos Education Know-Nothing. Pence. Rubio. Bannon/Mercer - mega donors now run your government. CRUZ Worse than you thought, no matter how bad that was. Cabinet and other minions. Paul Ryan devotee of Ayn Rand. Kobach's Mission - deny voters rights steal votes. Fear&Hate-Mongers, Liars, Talking heads, Assorted Bastards.
Gorsuch / stacking the judiciary far right after blocking Obama's nominees. Trump aims to let the health system fail. Florida governor has ignored climate change risks, critics say.
A Timeline – Russia and President Trump. The GOP of 2017 is the most extreme party coalition since the Civil War. Failed state Kansas is what happens when you massively cut taxes. How Alleged Russian Hacker Teamed Up With Florida GOP Operative - WSJ. Donald Trump: 100 Days of Deconstruction - BillMoyers. Nigel Farage, he's lying to you. - GIF on Imgur. Birther LIE pays off. Donald Trump and the Politics of Being an Asshole.