| Trump asking foreign countries for help against Biden violates law, Election Commission chair warns Posted: 03 Oct 2019 12:39 PM PDT  FEC chair Ellen Weintraub posted a reminder about U.S. election law following Trump's latest requests to foreign nations.
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| Prosecutor: ‘El Chapo’ gave $1M to Honduras leader’s brother Posted: 02 Oct 2019 12:13 PM PDT  Prosecutors alleged Wednesday that convicted Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán personally gave $1 million in bribes to the brother of Honduras' president to pass on to the Central American leader, who swiftly denied wrongdoing. Prosecutor Jason Richman revealed the allegation in a federal court in Manhattan where Juan Antonio "Tony" Hernández, 41, is accused of using his government connections to smuggle U.S.-bound cocaine through Honduras. In opening statements, Richman described Hernández as "untouchable" in Honduras and confident he would never face justice because of his powerful sibling.
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| Why the Japan-South Korea Trade War Is Worrying for the World Posted: 03 Oct 2019 03:20 AM PDT  The U.S.-China trade war is inflicting the most damage to the global economy, but it's Japan and South Korea's spat that's more concerning.
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| Shot HK protester charged by police, as gov moves to 'ban face masks' Posted: 03 Oct 2019 07:59 AM PDT  A teenage pro-democracy protester shot by a Hong Kong police officer was on Thursday charged with rioting, as authorities were reportedly set to ban the wearing of face masks at public rallies. Tsang Chi-kin, 18, was hit in the chest during clashes on Tuesday, a day which saw some of the worst violence in almost four months of unrest. It came as reports emerged that Hong Kong will soon ban the wearing of face masks at protests, in a clampdown on pro-democracy rallies that have rocked the strife-torn city.
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| Bob Woodward Enrages Audience at Times Reporters’ Book Event Posted: 02 Oct 2019 10:32 PM PDT  Dominik Bindl/GettyVeteran reporter Bob Woodward was accused of derailing an event on Wednesday night with the two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein sexual-abuse story that ushered in the MeToo movement. At the Sixth & I synagogue in Washington, D.C., to discuss their new book, She Said, about the consequences of the Weinstein scandal and what his accusers went through, New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey attempted to have a meaningful discussion about rape culture and how the MeToo movement has changed society. But they were reportedly repeatedly interrupted by Woodward—with questions that left the audience at once outraged and baffled. "Tomorrow there will be stories about how horribly Bob Woodward bombed this discussion. Repeatedly asked why Harvey Weinstein did what he did. The authors responded, multiple times: power. He accused them of dodging the question," ProPublica reporter J. David McShane tweeted. Reporter Kara Swisher, the co-founder of Recode, described Woodward's behavior during the discussion as "interruptive, not focused on the women who were victimized by Harvey Weinstein and weirdly obsessed with that creep, it's a exercise in how not to interview."Robyn Swirling, the founder of Works in Progress, an organization that aims to confront sexual harassment in progressive spaces, wrote a tweet thread detailing the audience's frustration with Woodward, who she said repeatedly failed to let Kantor and Twohey speak. On the topic of Weinstein, Woodward was said to prefer to focus on the disgraced movie mogul's motives rather what his alleged victims endured. "Showing exactly why he was the wrong person to have any sort of public (or private) discussion about metoo," Swirling wrote, Woodward repeatedly asked Kantor and Twohey why Weinstein allegedly preyed on so many young women. When they answered that they believed it was about power, Woodward reportedly said, "It's about sex also though, isn't it?'"The audience repeatedly booed him, though Woodward, apparently undaunted, went on to claim Weinstein's behavior constituted a "weird foreplay," Swirling tweeted. Later in the discussion, he reportedly asked Kantor and Twohey, "Did you find any women who made up allegations? That's very important" before asking them if they believed Brett Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford's allegations were credible enough to be published. Kantor and Twohey exposed decades of sexual-harassment allegations against Weinstein in a bombshell New York Times report in late 2017, sparking a reckoning of sorts in Hollywood, Weinstein's downfall, and the rise of the MeToo movement. Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual abuse and misconduct by dozens of women, faces a sexual assault trial in New York in January. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| New whistleblower comes forward regarding Trump’s tax audit Posted: 02 Oct 2019 07:31 AM PDT  A new whistleblower complaint alleges that "possible misconduct" occurred in an effort to influence the audit of President Trump's taxes.
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| Russia's Next Military Move: Selling Radar That Can Detect Hypersonic Weapons? Posted: 03 Oct 2019 05:44 AM PDT  Russia says it will sell radars in the Middle East that are designed to detect cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons.
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| Schiff takes charge of impeachment, issues stern warnings to Trump and Pompeo Posted: 02 Oct 2019 11:11 AM PDT  House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff charged President Trump with "incitement of violence" in his combative response to the whistleblower complaint.
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| The Latest: 7 confirmed dead in B-17 crash Posted: 02 Oct 2019 08:37 AM PDT  A Connecticut state official says seven people died in the crash of a World War-II airplane during an aborted takeoff from Hartford's airport. The B-17 airplane crashed and burned Wednesday morning while attempting to land back at Bradley International Airport. A Connecticut state official says seven people have died in the crash of a World War II-era airplane.
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| Former Dallas cop sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting her unarmed black neighbor to death in his own apartment Posted: 02 Oct 2019 02:21 PM PDT  Amber Guyger, 31, had faced the possibility of 99 years in prison, though the judge told the jury they could sentence her to as few as two years.
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| 'Gigantic' iceberg breaks away from ice shelf in Antarctica Posted: 02 Oct 2019 01:38 PM PDT  A colossal iceberg roughly the size of Los Angeles or Sydney, Australia, and weighing an estimated 347 billion tons broke off from the Amery Ice Shelf in Antarctica last week.The 630-square-mile iceberg, named D28, separated from the ice shelf on September 26, next to a location scientists had been watching for nearly 20 years. The area was known as the "Loose Tooth," because it appeared to be barely hanging on to the ice shelf in recent years."We first noticed a rift at the front of the ice shelf in the early 2000s and predicted a large iceberg would break off between 2010-2015," said Helen Amanda Fricker, one of the lead researchers on the team studying D28, said in a statement from the Australian government's Antarctic division.The Antarctic division also released stunning aerial footage showing the "gigantic" hunk of ice that until last week had been hanging on by a thread. Below is a video animation made from satellite imagery showing the moment the break-away iceberg split from the Amery Ice Shelf.> A 1600 km² iceberg broke off Amery Ice Shelf, as seen in @CopernicusEU Sentinel-1 radar images. This part, coined the "Loose Tooth" by @helenafricker and colleagues, has been hanging by a thread since 2002 (https://t.co/IUhXDCWOFF) and finally gave way last week.@sentinel_hub pic.twitter.com/GG60Sk52GB> > -- Bert Wouters (@bert_polar) September 30, 2019The GIF shows the iceberg rotating westward, apparently pushed by the prevailing easterly winds, which reached speeds of 40 mph, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Jim Andrews."The calving will not directly affect sea level, because the ice shelf was already floating, much like an ice cube in a glass of water," Dr. Galton-Fenzi said in the statement released by the Australian Arctic division.However, Fenzi said scientists are interested to see if the loss of ice will influence the ocean melting under the remaining ice shelf and the speed at which the ice flows off the continent.Amery is the third-largest ice shelf in Antarctica, and is a key drainage channel for the east of the continent -- a closely-watched piece of real estate that researchers have been studying since the 1960s.Currently, there are instruments deployed on the ice measuring the impact of ocean melt and ice flow. "We don't think this event is linked to climate change, it's part of the ice shelf's normal cycle, where we see major calving events every 60 to 70 years," Fricker said.If the calving isn't linked to climate change, then what should people make of it? "I like to think of it as being akin to our fingernails -- they grow and break off -- at least if we don't keep them clipped," Andrews said.
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| Hong Kong set to ban face masks in bid to curb violence - media Posted: 03 Oct 2019 12:53 AM PDT ![Hong Kong set to ban face masks in bid to curb violence - media]( "Hong Kong set to ban face masks in bid to curb violence - media") Hong Kong is set to enact an emergency law to ban face masks at rallies, media reported on Thursday, as authorities grapple with nearly four months of anti-government protests. Many demonstrators wear face masks to hide their identities and shield themselves from tear gas. Demonstrators threw petrol bombs and police responded with tear gas.
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| Feuding children reach truce on funeral for Mexican superstar Jose Jose Posted: 02 Oct 2019 09:01 PM PDT  After days of drama involving a missing corpse, a family feud and a soundtrack of heartbroken love songs, late Latin singing sensation Jose Jose's children have set aside their differences and agreed on plans for his funeral, the Mexican government said Wednesday. Jose Jose, known as "The Prince of Song," one of the most famous Mexican singers of all time, died Saturday in Miami at age 71. Jose Jose will be given a funeral Friday in Miami, the ministry said in a statement.
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| Joe Biden’s Gun-Control Plan Is a Constitutional Disaster Posted: 02 Oct 2019 12:22 PM PDT  This morning, Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden unveiled his "Plan to End Our Gun Violence Epidemic," and it's a mess. It contains provisions that would bankrupt gun manufacturers for the crime of selling fully functional, legal firearms. It would ban the sale of the most popular rifles in America and the standard-capacity magazines made for America's most commonly used handguns. Oh, and to incentivize a voluntary buyback of existing "assault weapons," it would grant the owners of such weapons a choice: sell your rifle to the government or join a firearms registry.Put simply, Biden's plan would leave law-abiding citizens outgunned in their own homes by predatory criminals, and place virtually every gun-maker at risk of financial ruin. This is what Democratic "moderation" looks like?Biden begins his plan by pledging to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a 2005 law that was designed to shield gun-makers from liability for "harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the product functioned as designed and intended." This is a solid basic principle. If a terrorist uses an SUV in a ramming attack or puts a bomb in a van, it's not the automaker's fault. Why should it be the gun-maker's fault if if an evil man uses a lawful product unlawfully?It shouldn't be. Yet there are all too many Americans (and American judges, especially in state courts) who view the manufacture and sale of guns as morally suspect, and of so-called assault weapons as inherently illegitimate. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act stands as a firewall against activist litigation designed to put gun companies out of business. Biden would destroy that firewall.What of his proposed assault-weapons ban? Let's be clear — what the Biden plan calls "weapons of war" are not the weapons that our soldiers carry into combat. Instead, AR-style rifles are among the most popular civilian firearms in the United States. They are extraordinarily useful for self-defense, and they're rarely used to commit crimes. (Indeed, rifles more broadly are used to kill fewer people than blunt objects or hands and feet.) Yes, they have been used in several high-profile mass killings, but there's no meaningful evidence indicating that banning them would decrease mass shootings. In fact, they've been used in mass shootings in states that already ban them.Taken together, Biden's bans on the sales of assault weapons and the magazines that come standard with millions of popular rifles and handguns would create the perverse result of placing law-abiding Americans at a distinct disadvantage in defending themselves from criminals. With hundreds of millions of magazines already in circulation, the foreseeable threat comes from a criminal armed with just such a magazine. That's one reason why police officers carry equivalent weapons. It's one reason why bans on standard-capacity magazines tend to contain exceptions for law-enforcement officers. But if police can protect themselves from common domestic threats, why can't my family?Biden wants to give existing assault-weapon owners a choice: Sell your weapon to the government or register it with the government. But we know registration is a failed policy, one that's routinely met with massive public indifference. It's estimated that as many as 1 million New Yorkers have defied the Empire State's assault-weapon-registration law, and as many as 85 percent of Connecticut assault-weapon owners have flouted the Nutmeg State's registration requirement. A California registration requirement has had compliance rates as low as 3.6 percent. If states are the laboratories of democracy, then registration is a lab experiment that's failed.Biden's proposal also contains now-standard calls for universal background checks and his own hobby-horse, so-called smart guns that present enormous technological and practical challenges, including challenges that could hamper their use in self-defense, when innocent lives are on the line. And while I support properly drafted "red flag" laws, I have little confidence in the due-process protections that a Biden administration would endorse.There are good elements to Biden's proposal. Stricter enforcement of laws prohibiting straw purchases would be a welcome way of cracking down on a method we know criminals use to obtain guns. Forwarding failed background-check requests to law enforcement could deter individuals who know they're prohibited purchasers from attempting to slip through cracks in the system. But the heart of the plan is a direct attack on the gun industry and on the inherent right to self-defense of America's law-abiding citizens.One final note: While it's important to highlight the injustice of Biden's proposals, it's also worth mentioning that draconian Democratic gun-control proposals are partly the fault of a Supreme Court that has been woefully delinquent in taking and deciding Second Amendment cases. We cannot expect the Court to rapidly develop a body of case law as rich and detailed as its First Amendment jurisprudence, but we have a reasonable right to expect it to definitively decide whether the government can, in fact, ban the nation's most popular firearms and most widely used magazines.Until that question is answered, though, our body politic will continue to confront a series of escalating Democratic gun-control proposals. Those proposals will have virtually no chance of passing at the federal level. But they'll still demonstrate the vast, growing cultural and political divide over American gun rights.
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| China's Robot Submarines Could Be the Ultimate Underwater Spy Posted: 02 Oct 2019 11:45 PM PDT  How worried should Asia and America be?
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| Greta Thunberg doesn't understand complexities of ‘modern world,’ says Putin Posted: 02 Oct 2019 11:08 AM PDT  At an energy forum in Moscow, the Russian president dismissed the Swedish teenage climate activist's viral U.N. speech — and took a swipe at her parents.
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| Satellite images show activity around Iranian-flagged tanker Posted: 03 Oct 2019 01:04 AM PDT  Satellite images released on Thursday show that a once-detained Iranian-flagged oil tanker sitting off the coast of Syria has been approached by a smaller Iranian tanker, an indication the ship could be preparing to transfer its cargo. Images released by Maxar Technologies show the Jasmine alongside the Adrian Darya 1 on Wednesday, with mooring lines between them and a crane deployed on the larger vessel. The Adrian Darya 1, formerly named the Grace 1, was detained off the British overseas territory of Gibraltar in July while carrying $130 million in crude oil, on suspicion of breaking European Union sanctions by taking the oil to Syria.
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| Florida man shot and killed son-in-law in case of mistaken identity, sheriff says Posted: 03 Oct 2019 04:34 PM PDT  A Florida man will not face charges after authorities said he shot and killed his son-in-law who had flown from Norway as a birthday surprise.
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| Junior Partner at Silicon Valley Law Firm DLA Piper: Boss Sexually Assaulted Me 4 Times, Company Ignored It Posted: 02 Oct 2019 10:19 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyVanina Guerrero first immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia when she was 4 years old. Decades later—after cleaning offices, scrubbing toilets, attending college, graduating from law school, and mastering five languages—she was hired at top-grossing law firm DLA Piper.That's when her nightmare began, she says.Guerrero was hired as a junior partner in the multinational firm's Silicon Valley corporate practice in September 2018.By the end of November that year, Guerrero says she had endured four sexual assaults by her boss: one in Shanghai, one in Brazil, one in Chicago, and one in Palo Alto. "During my entire career I was known for my intellect, tenacity and confidence," Guerrero wrote in an open letter to the firm on Wednesday. "In less than nine months at DLA Piper... I became a shell of my former self."After allegedly complaining to top brass at the firm for months, Guerrero filed a report late Tuesday in San Jose, California, with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The report names DLA Piper, the $2.84-billion firm with lawyers in more than 40 countries that in 2010 famously represented Paul Ceglia—the wood-pellet salesman who allegedly tried to defraud Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.The complaint also names a senior partner at the firm's Silicon Valley office who, according to the complaint, recruited Guerrero. As part of his pitch, the partner allegedly told Guerrero that she was a "star" and that he expected her to soon outpace him. He told her "you'll be my boss soon," according to the complaint.Guerrero's EEOC filing alleges gender discrimination—including quid pro quo and hostile-environment sexual harassment—as well as retaliation."I went from working in Hong Kong as general counsel and the top female executive at a global tech company to being abused by [the partner]," Guerrero wrote in her open letter issued Wednesday, in which she asked to be voluntarily released from mandatory arbitration. Her letter also claims that, outside of forced arbitration, she would be able to file civil claims against the partner for assault, battery, and sexual harassment.Guerrero's complaint alleges that the partner's behavior was "common knowledge among employees, including other partners in the Palo Alto office" who refused to remedy the situation. She names at least three other senior male partners who were aware of the allegations against the partner for months and "opted to marginalize what happened and horrifically—did nothing."One of those partners, the complaint states, "bluntly told Ms. Guerrero that she was lying and that this was clearly a case of 'he said, she said'" and then "fabricated a reason to remove Ms. Guerrero from a valued account just days after learning specific details about her claims regarding Mr. [the partner]."> In a statement to The Daily Beast, the law firm said: "We are aware of these allegations by one of our partners and take them seriously. As soon as we were notified of the allegations, we took appropriate steps to investigate them. This process is ongoing and we continue to seek Ms. de Verneuil's cooperation in our investigation."* * *Shanghai, Brazil, Chicago, and Palo Alto* * *The partner "regularly throws temper tantrums in and out of the office," involving yelling, cursing, and clenched fists, the complaint states.Once on a trip to Shanghai, the partner asked Guerrero to come up to his hotel room to discuss business, drank several glasses of wine, and offered her a foot massage, the EEOC complaint alleges. "Before she knew what was happening, he had her lying down on the couch with his body next to her, physically hugging and groping her," according to the complaint. "Upset and in shock, Ms. Guerrero told him 'no' and ran out of the room.""In panic and disbelief about what he had done, Ms. Guerrero stayed silent because she naively thought that [the partner] would stop future advances," the complaint states.The following week, on a flight to Brazil, the partner bumped himself and Guerrero up to business class and revealed his feelings for her, the report claims.Before the plane landed, Guerrero said she was crying in the bathroom. That night, according to Guerrero, the partner told her that he upgraded his room at the hotel so that the two could work there more comfortably and that two male associates on the trip would not be joining them for dinner. At a "romantic restaurant," without the other two male associates present, the partner "attempted to tell her things about his personal life" while she claims she tried to steer the conversation toward work, the complaint allegesGuerrero eventually "became so upset at the predicament that she was in and [the partner]'s obvious intent to relentlessly pursue her that she sobbed uncontrollably and they had to leave the restaurant," the complaint states. "Back at the hotel, undeterred and seeing her in a vulnerable state, [the partner] insisted that she go to his room for a drink."Then, according to the complaint, he repeated the same routine as he had in Shanghai. "Trapped, in distress, and aware of his temper, Ms. Guerrero believed the best way to protect herself was to allow his physical assault rather than fight back," the report alleges.The alleged assaults "directly impacted her performance and caused Ms. Guerrero to forfeit opportunities that she otherwise would not have missed," including opting out of at least four subsequent business trips with the partner in order to avoid further assault and harassment, according to the complaint.On another trip, in Chicago, the partner told Guerrero he needed to "work with her in his room" and again "jumped on" her, forcibly putting his hands on her neck while kissing her and playing with the zipper of his pants, according to the complaint. "I don't want to wait anymore. Look, the bed is right there, Let's have an affair," he allegedly said. Guerrero alleges that when she pushed him off, the partner asked, "Then why did I even come to Chicago? I introduced you to the powerful partners already."In November 2018 in Palo Alto, the partner threw a party at his home, during which he pushed "a never-ending supply of alcohol into [Guerrero's] hands," the report alleges. When they were in the kitchen alone, he grabbed her by the waist and "tried to kiss and rub against her," the report states.Guerrero "screamed, pushed him off her, and yelled for him to stop," according to the complaint. "Scared he would force himself on her, she begged and pleaded with [the partner] to stop."She kept yelling "Leave me alone!" but the partner "physically tried to prevent Ms. Guerrero from leaving his house, including by grabbing her wrists to hold her back," the report alleges.The next day, the partner allegedly told her he'd spent the "entire night sobbing because of the way she had rejected and treated him."* * *"Petrified"* * *Over the course of 10 months, Guerrero was "repeatedly forced to reject [his] advances, only to experience [the partner]'s unlawful retaliation," the complaint claims. "Less than a year after starting at DLA Piper, Ms. Guerrero's projected career path was in shatters." For months, according to Guerrero's complaint, she was "afraid to tell anyone" about the partner's alleged conduct, which included "manipulative badgering and belittling," "outbursts," "shunning," and "extreme and unwarranted jealousy," the report claims."I was petrified to believe what was happening to me, much less tell anyone," Guerrero wrote in her letter. "[The partner] controls my work and my ability to advance. When I dared to tell him to stop, [he] would refuse to speak to me for weeks, threaten to take me off of client deals, and accuse me of underperformance."But eventually, word got out that something was going on. The partner told Guerrero that there were "rumors" in the office of an affair between them and that Guerrero made male clients and other lawyers "uncomfortable" because of the way that she dressed and her "sexual appeal," according to the EEOC report.After one rejection, the partner allegedly "threatened her job, position, at the firm, and compensation, and told her that their working relationship would never be the same."By June 2019, Guerrero was hospitalized for severe intestinal problems, and physicians referred her to therapists, gastrointestinal specialists, and a social worker, according to the complaint. Later that summer, after more alleged bullying from the partner, Guerrero landed back in urgent care after a panic attack and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder."I speak five languages," Guerrero wrote in her letter. "I worked as a successful corporate lawyer for top global companies on Wall Street, and in Paris, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tanzania and India. I excelled and thrived, even in these male dominated spaces.""Only after joining DLA Piper's Silicon Valley practice and being subjected to [the partner]'s unlawful behavior, have I suffered such humiliation and harm simply because of my gender," she added."No female working at DLA Piper... should be forced to litigate claims involving sexual assault and battery or sexual harassment by male lawyers in secret," Guerrero wrote. "Female employees at DLA Piper deserve to know about what happened."Biden's Note to Stanford Rape Victim Chanel Miller: 'I See You'Yale Professor Lured Students to Caribbean Island to 'Molest' Them, Investigation FindsThis story has been updated to include DLA Piper's comment on the allegations.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Police Crack Down on Vaping, Surfacing Stockpiles of Illicit Cartridges Posted: 02 Oct 2019 03:01 PM PDT  The tip came to Minnesota police officers in July via a confidential informant: In a suburb in Anoka County, the informant said, a man had been quietly selling thousands of vaping cartridges laced with marijuana from his home.When authorities entered the man's condominium last week, they found a staggeringly large stash of vaping cartridges, believed to be one of the biggest busts in the country. Close to 29,000 cartridges were tucked away inside a Cadillac Escalade. Another 30,000 were stacked in a garage. Some were packaged in black boxes with colorful lettering, cheerful images of Fred Flintstone and names of candylike flavors like mai tai, strawberry shortcake and Fruity Pebbles.They were the sorts of vaping products that have been identified as possible culprits in a perplexing lung illness that has sickened at least 800 people across the country and killed at least 16.As health officials grapple with a public health crisis they are struggling to understand, police departments are in the midst of a swift crackdown on vaping products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. In the Phoenix area, authorities recently raided three homes over eight days, seizing hundreds of THC cartridges at each. In Wisconsin, detectives arrested two young brothers accused of running a large-scale THC cartridge assembly operation inside a condo. And in Nebraska, sheriff's deputies found a stash of cartridges in a car parked at a truck stop.Until recently, some police departments busy fighting a national opioid epidemic had considered illegal vaping products a nuisance, but not a lethal threat. Police departments had taken small steps to root out illegal cartridges, but as more teenagers and young adults have begun vaping THC, sometimes with deadly consequences, authorities say they are now paying close attention."It's become an absolute priority," said Sheriff Paul Penzone of Maricopa County, Arizona, where deputies have made undercover purchases from vaping cartridge dealers and tried to disrupt a sprawling supply chain.The effort to crack down on illicit vaping products has been laden with complications. Police say they have been stunned by the growth in popularity and variety of vaping devices. Enforcement can be difficult because vaping THC is not accompanied by the distinctive -- and often incriminating -- smell of marijuana. And police officers have had to learn the difference between vaping cartridges for THC, which are illegal for recreational use in most states, and devices for vaping nicotine, which are legally sold at many drugstores and gas stations.Authorities are also still tracing a vast and shadowy distribution network in which empty cartridges are filled with THC-laced liquid in "pen factories," packaged with boxes available online and often shipped across state lines in trucks or rental cars."It is something we're trying to get our hands around," said L.J. Fusaro, the chief of police in Groton, Connecticut, where officers confiscated 435 THC cartridges in a bust this year. "As of late, it's really become of interest to law enforcement because of the harm that's come to folks, particularly our youth."In August, Illinois health officials announced the first vaping-related death in the nation. In the weeks after, more deaths in Kansas, California and Indiana were tied to the ailment, and that number has continued to grow. Illicit THC-filled vaping cartridges with labels like "Dank Vapes" could be culprits, according to health officials, but it is still unknown what is making people ill.In police circles, efforts have turned to trying to get a handle on the universe of vaping products -- a wide, disparate array of sources of cartridges and a murky and fragmented distribution network for them.Law enforcement officials have found a flourishing black market of vaping cartridges that are made in small operations, often in a house or apartment. The cartridges are filled with THC oil and often diluted with substances that are dangerous to inhale, like vitamin E acetate, one of the products that health officials suspect has caused lung damage. Then they are sold on the street or online for roughly $20 each.In recent years, police have sometimes struggled to classify vaping materials in official reports and to decide which criminal charges should apply to them."We started recognizing it as commanders from across the state were calling us, trying to figure out how to report them to us, because they didn't fit into a category," said Brian Marquart, the statewide gang and drug coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.Authorities have tracked down illegal vaping operations through elaborate police investigation -- but also fortuitous traffic stops.In Indiana, 50,000 cartridges worth $1 million were found on a box truck traveling from California to Indianapolis after the driver was pulled over in March for following another vehicle too closely. In Nebraska, the State Patrol has netted three seizures of illegal vaping products in recent weeks, including the discovery of thousands of THC cartridges in the bed of a white pickup truck that made an improper lane change west of Lincoln.Some boxes of cartridges have been found in plain sight -- a reflection, perhaps, of the relative newness of efforts to crack down on THC cartridges and of states' differing laws on marijuana."It's not like it's unmarked and heat-sealed and hidden in a false compartment," Capt. Jason Scott of the Nebraska State Patrol said. "It's usually just right out in the open."Other cases have involved lengthy and intense investigations. In the Minnesota case, an undercover officer from a drug task force bought vaping products from Valentin V. Andonii, 22, then followed him to his home, leading to the discovery of nearly 77,000 cartridges.Alyssa Jones, a lawyer for Andonii, declined to comment on two felony drug charges her client faces, each of which could carry a 30-year prison term if he is convicted.Federal officials have also targeted illegal vaping, though local and state law enforcement agencies said they have mostly been operating on their own. In Ohio, three people were indicted in May after Drug Enforcement Administration agents found thousands of THC vaping cartridges. And last year in North Carolina, federal agents arrested a man accused of selling a synthetic marijuana vaping product.The threat of THC-laced vaping cartridges still pales in comparison to the pervasive presence of opioids, which killed more than 47,000 people in overdoses in 2017. Some police departments may have been so busy battling heroin, fentanyl and other drugs that they did not view THC vaping as a threat until very recently."Honestly, I think we kind of missed the boat a little bit because we've been dealing with opioids," said Fusaro of the Groton, Connecticut, police. "In some respects, we didn't see this coming."In places like Phoenix, where Penzone's deputies recently confiscated 1,100 cartridges, there is a growing sense of just how pervasive illegal vaping has become and just how hard it will be to choke off the supply."Through e-cartridges, we now have a pathway where our children can ingest literally any drug," Penzone said. "That creates a whole new challenge for us that we've never seen in the past."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Taiwan warns Chinese could be barred entry over anti-HK violence Posted: 02 Oct 2019 05:31 PM PDT  Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen warned Thursday that mainland Chinese who attacked Hong Kongers or damaged "Lennon Walls" could be barred from the island following a recent spate of such incidents. The walls plastered in colourful sticky-notes, posters and slogans that have sprung up across Hong Kong have also been set up in Taiwan, mostly in university campuses. Taiwan held a Hong Kong solidarity rally last weekend which was largely peaceful, although Hong Kong popstar Denise Ho -- a staunch democracy advocate -- had red paint thrown at her by an unidentified assailant as she spoke to local media.
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| Biden invests in an insurance policy against Warren’s surge Posted: 03 Oct 2019 02:00 AM PDT  Joe Biden's campaign is ramping up its investment in Super Tuesday states, anticipating a Democratic race that narrows to two candidates by early March. The increase in staffing across the 14 states that will vote March 3 comes as Biden's polling figures have declined and Elizabeth Warren's have surged, particularly in states like Iowa and New Hampshire where she's heavily invested in field organization. Many of the states on the Super Tuesday map — which includes a handful of Southern and Border states — play to his strengths among African-American voters and more moderate Democrats.
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| Fairfax County, Va., cop suspended for turning individual over to ICE Posted: 02 Oct 2019 01:14 PM PDT  The Fairfax County, Va., Police Department has suspended an officer for detaining and turning the driver in an accident over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday in violation of the department's policy not to assist ICE with civil enforcement.
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| Professor: Trump Must Resign or ‘Dangerous Individuals’ Will ‘Kill and Maim’ Posted: 03 Oct 2019 02:12 PM PDT  A professor at Georgia Southern University has declared that "people have already died" because of Donald Trump -- adding that the media must pressure him to resign or else "dangerous individuals" will "kill and maim."A linguistics and writing professor, Jared Yates Sexton, made the comments on Twitter on Saturday, and screenshots of them were obtained by Campus Reform.According to Sexton, the media "must push against that impulse to juice impeachment for profit," and start pressuring Trump to resign instead -- or else a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs will be the end of us all."Trump is going to try everything, Fox is going to try everything, and they're going to both further the injuring of societal reality and inspire dangerous individuals to kill and maim," he stated."There's a vast number of people in this, people who have been taught their whole lives that they might need to kill in case of a coup or corrupt takeover," Sexton continued. "Trump and Republicans signal to them constantly. They're more than ready to see this as the occasion."Sexton then reiterated the need for the media to "assert pressure" on Trump "to resign so we can avoid this story going to a place that risks lives.""People have already died," he stated. "More will if this crisis isn't dismantled carefully."Now, Campus Reform later interviewed Sexton, and his comments there perhaps (and only perhaps) seem like a bit (but only a bit) of a walkback from his original tweets -- although he certainly did double down on his view that Trump is "dangerous." In the interview, though, Sexton clarified that he doesn't believe that people will "die simply because Trump remains in office," but that he does "believe there is a danger in President Trump and Republicans continually mentioning coups and civil wars as history, both recent and past, shows that individuals do kill when rhetoric like this permeates media.""For instance, Dylann Roof's killings were predicated by radicalizing propaganda that told him he must take his country back," he told the news source.(President Obama, not Trump, was in office at the time of Roof's murders.)"My concern is that the President has obviously committed impeachable offenses and that the fight over impeachment, considering there [are] already calls for a civil war, will be dangerous for Americans," Sexton continued.Okay. First of all, let me just say that I am certainly not someone who thinks that Donald Trump is perfect. For example, as a pro-immigration libertarian, I couldn't agree less with his views on that issue -- such as his desire to spend taxpayer money building a wall (no matter how "beautiful" he assures me it would be). What's more, I believe that he's said things that warrant criticism, and have not been hesitant to offer my own. In fact, like Sexton, I was also bothered by his tweet predicting that there would be a "Civil War" should he be impeached.Here's the difference, though: Despite having my own issues and concerns regarding the president, I have always managed to remain at least hinged in my criticism of him. For example: I have never even insinuated that he was a murderer, as Sexton did in his tweets. Now, of course, it's been easy for me to refrain from doing so -- because I myself happen to find such statements to be patently ridiculous and rooted in hysteria and prejudgments rather than in fact. For example (as I discussed in my column yesterday) last spring, CNN, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, and Vox all ran stories on a single study reporting a 226 percent increase in hate-related incidents in connection to Trump's rallies. Without looking into context or alternative explanations for the numbers, Democratic politicians from Representative Ilhan Omar to Senator Bernie Sanders weighed in to use the study as unequivocal evidence that Trump's rhetoric was absolutely causing hatred and violence. When reporters for Reason looked into the numbers, however, they found that Hillary Clinton actually had an even higher increase in hate incidents related to her rallies -- ultimately concluding that the increase that had been categorically blamed on rhetoric was actually more than likely due to the fact that politicians often choose to hold rallies in larger cities, where "the raw number of crimes is generally mechanically higher."All things considered, people like Sexton may want to contemplate being more measured in their own rhetoric when discussing Trump's presidency -- not for me, not for Trump or his supporters, but for themselves. Aside from the fact that a Trump resignation is quite obviously never going to happen under any circumstances (seriously, I'd bet my cat against it) speaking in clear, hysterical hyperbole is never the way to win anyone over to anything. Although it may energize the hard Left, talk of Trump being a murderer or "literally Hitler" or the like sounds like overblown nonsense to everyone else. The problem, of course, with people hearing you spew what they consider to be nonsense is that they're going to be far more likely to write you off even when you may have a legitimate point. What's more, that sort of talk makes Trump supporters further view the president as a victim, constantly being scourged with the lashes of outrageous allegations. You may be trying to push people away from Trump, but all you end up doing is pushing his supporters further toward him.
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| ACLU challenges deportation of man to El Salvador Posted: 03 Oct 2019 09:56 AM PDT ![ACLU challenges deportation of man to El Salvador]( "ACLU challenges deportation of man to El Salvador") The American Civil Liberties Union is demanding that the federal government return a Salvadoran man to the United States after he was deported despite a court order allowing him to remain here. In its brief filed Wednesday, the ACLU of New Hampshire said that José Daniel Guerra-Castañeda was deported last month by U.S. Immigration and Enforcement to El Salvador and is in a crowded jail there. A federal judge in Boston ruled last month that Guerra-Castañeda could remain in the United States to fight deportation efforts over an alleged murder he committed in El Salvador.
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| The B-2 Bomber Has More Firepower Than an Aircraft Carrier Posted: 03 Oct 2019 12:50 AM PDT  Could the B-2 stealth bomber be the most dangerous plane ever built?
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| Because of Larry Nassar, Michigan State has the most rapes reported in a year in campus safety report Posted: 03 Oct 2019 12:53 PM PDT  The annual Clery Act report, which is mandated by the federal government, includes more than 1,000 rapes – most attributed to Larry Nassar.
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| Spokesman defends dishevelled Duterte as 'very hygienic' Posted: 03 Oct 2019 06:11 AM PDT  President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman on Thursday defended the Philippine leader as "very hygienic" and nice-smelling after he was mocked on social media for looking dishevelled in a meeting with the Russian prime minister. The 74-year-old Duterte was in Russia on a working visit and sat down for the talks with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday. In pictures of the meeting, Duterte was seen in a rumpled suit with his tie hanging loose as the two posed for pictures and shook hands.
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| After terrifying ICE raid, Mississippi is still fighting back Posted: 03 Oct 2019 04:12 PM PDT  Families are still separated, and lawyers are still pushing back against slanted justice system
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| Netanyahu weighing Likud leadership election: party spokesman Posted: 03 Oct 2019 09:04 AM PDT  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a snap leadership vote in his Likud party, a spokesman said on Thursday, adding a new twist to Israeli politics after two deadlocked general elections this year. A leadership vote would give Netanyahu an opportunity to win a new mandate from his party after his failure to secure a parliamentary majority in national elections in April and last month left him politically weakened. In a statement, the party spokesman said Netanyahu was weighing the idea "to shatter the illusion of a Likud rebellion" against him and persuade any political rivals who might be anticipating one that they should join a unity government with him now.
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| Suspected drug smugglers saved from drowning by floating cocaine packs Posted: 03 Oct 2019 08:26 AM PDT  Three suspected drug smugglers whose boat capsized off the Colombian coast saved themselves from drowning by clinging to their floating bales of cocaine.The trio were rescued after seven hours of using their illegal cargo as makeshift life rafts in the shark-infested waters of the Pacific Ocean
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| Ed Henry: Trump, Giuliani succeeded in getting the Biden story front and center Posted: 02 Oct 2019 09:44 PM PDT  The 'Outnumbered' panel on how President Trump and Joe Biden have responded to attacks from each other on the Ukraine controversy.
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| Judge Pressures Prosecutors to Decide Whether to Pursue a Case Against McCabe Posted: 02 Oct 2019 05:00 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has come under increasing pressure in its investigation of the former deputy FBI director Andrew G. McCabe, as a federal judge threatened to release internal department records unless prosecutors decide whether to move forward with or abandon the politically charged case.Judge Reggie B. Walton of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who is presiding over a lawsuit over FBI documents related to McCabe's firing last year, said at a hearing on Monday that he would soon begin releasing them. The Justice Department has argued that the materials should stay confidential while prosecutors investigate McCabe over whether he lied to internal investigators about dealings with the news media."You all have got to cut and make your decision," Walton said, according to a transcript. "It's not a hard decision, and I think it needs to be made. If it's not made, I'm going to start ordering the release of information because I think our society, our public, does have a right to know what's going on."McCabe, long a target of President Donald Trump's, was the subject of a scathing report by the Justice Department inspector general's office that faulted him for violating media policy and repeatedly misleading its investigators. They were asking about an October 2016 Wall Street Journal article about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. McCabe, working through the FBI press office, had authorized a spokesman and a bureau lawyer to speak to a reporter to rebut allegations that he had slowed the inquiry.McCabe was fired in March 2018, hours before retirement benefits would have kicked in, and the inspector general referred his findings to federal prosecutors in Washington a month later.Walton's stern warning came as prosecutors grappled with whether to bring charges in what is a seemingly straightforward case with a limited set of facts and witnesses that has been under investigation for 19 months."This matter is a high-profile matter," Walton said. He added that as long as prosecutors hold off on deciding how to proceed, they "undermine the credibility not only of the Justice Department because it's not making these hard decisions, but also the court."McCabe's lawyers have argued that the case is weak and that he is being singled out because of the president's disdain for him. Trump has relentlessly attacked McCabe, potentially complicating any prosecution. McCabe has said the president targeted him to undermine his standing as a witness to whether he obstructed justice in the Russia inquiry.In August, McCabe's lawyers met with Jeffrey A. Rosen, the deputy attorney general, to make a last-ditch appeal for prosecutors to drop the case. Their pleas were rebuffed, and an indictment appeared imminent. But the grand jury hearing the case reconvened last month after weeks without meeting but did not indict McCabe, raising questions about whether prosecutors delayed a vote by jurors to avoid a rare and embarrassing setback of their declining to hand up an indictment.Other setbacks have emerged for the government. One prosecutor on the case left the Justice Department and has said it lacked merit while another left on what seemed like the eve of a possible indictment.A key witness in the case -- Lisa Page, the former FBI lawyer whom McCabe authorized to speak to the Wall Street Journal reporter -- also told the grand jury that he was not motivated to lie about the episode because he was authorized to speak with reporters and thus did not violate media policy. Her sympathetic testimony to McCabe would most likely be a problem for prosecutors.Another important witness who testified before the grand jury, Michael Kortan, the spokesman involved in the episode, could not immediately remember how the leak unfolded.Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog group, sued in July 2018 for the records related to McCabe's dismissal. The organization is seeking access to investigators' notes taken during Kortan's interview, which could be exculpatory to McCabe, the group's lawyer, Anne Weismann, argued during the hearing."We're in dark times," she told the judge, saying that growing evidence showed that Trump was abusing his powers to go after perceived enemies in the intelligence and law enforcement communities. McCabe, she said, was "swept up in that."The judge seemed to acknowledge her point, noting that Trump was "going after the courts, too." He later added, "I totally appreciate what you just said and share many of the same concerns that you have expressed."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| AP Exclusive: Many problems at jail where inmates escaped Posted: 03 Oct 2019 09:35 AM PDT  CLEVELAND (AP) The overcrowded Ohio county jail from which four inmates escaped last weekend has been repeatedly cited by state inspectors for its lack of a security perimeter, broken security cameras and a lack of records showing whether officers conducted daily inmate counts, The Associated Press has learned. The male inmates who escaped overpowered two female corrections officers at the Gallia County Jail near the southern tip of Ohio using a handmade shank early Sunday. A report by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction after an inspection in December obtained by the AP said the jail was at double its capacity of 21 inmates and overall had failed to comply with 77 state standards.
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| North Korea tests submarine-launched missile a day after saying it will resume nuclear talks with US Posted: 03 Oct 2019 12:23 PM PDT  A day after saying it would resume nuclear talks with the US, North Korea said it successfully test-fired a submarine-launched missile.
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| The Army Wants Killer Electromagnetic Pulse Artillery Shells Posted: 02 Oct 2019 07:00 PM PDT  A sci-fi fantasy?
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| Modi hails toilet 'milestone' as India marks Gandhi's 150th Posted: 02 Oct 2019 09:49 AM PDT  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday declared the country of 1.3 billion people free of open defecation, and turned his sights towards eradicating single-use plastic next. Modi -- whose claim has been challenged by experts -- made his ambitious "latrines for all" pledge when he first took office in 2014 and his announcement late Wednesday coincided with the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, an icon not just for Indian independence but also sanitation. "In 60 months, 600 million people have been given access to toilets, more than 110 million toilets have been built," Modi said in a speech to 20,000 village chiefs in western Ahmedabad city in his and Gandhi's home state of Gujarat.
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| Merkel warns against racism on anniversary of German reunification Posted: 03 Oct 2019 07:41 AM PDT  Chancellor Angela Merkel made a veiled attack on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on the 29th anniversary of German reunification on Thursday, saying economic grievances in the east were no excuse for racism. In a speech marking the anniversary, Merkel cited a government-commissioned report that found economic discrepancies between the eastern and western parts of Germany and which said people in the east feel like second-class citizens. Merkel did not mention the anti-migrant AfD by name but it has stronger support in eastern parts of Germany and made big gains in elections in two eastern regions last month.
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| Photos of starving grizzly bear family stirs concern for climate crisis Posted: 03 Oct 2019 02:08 PM PDT  A Canadian photographer's images of an emaciated grizzly bear family has sparked widespread concern for the effect of climate change on wildlife in the area.Rolf Hicker shared a series of photos on Facebook of the bears looking for food on the shores of Canada's Knight Inlet.
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| Tech exec's body found in BMW after abduction in Santa Cruz, officials say Posted: 02 Oct 2019 03:48 PM PDT  Police say Tushar Atre was kidnapped from his California home around 3am and officers located vehicle that afternoonAuthorities say Tushar Atre, the 50-year-old owner of a digital marketing company, was abducted on Tuesday from his home in Santa Cruz. Photograph: APThe 50-year-old owner of a California marketing company was abducted from his oceanfront home in Santa Cruz and later found dead near his white BMW, authorities say.The Santa Cruz county sheriff's office has released few details on the case. But on Tuesday, it reported it had received a 911 call early in the morning from the home of Tushar Atre, the owner of the digital marketing company Atre Net Inc.Atre had been kidnapped from his home around 3am "during a crime", the office said, and he was last seen getting into a white BMW SUV.Deputies located the car on Tuesday afternoon in the Santa Cruz Mountains and found a body in the same location."We have some unfortunate news, we have found the car associated with this case along with a deceased person," the office said in a Facebook statement on Tuesday afternoon.On Wednesday afternoon, the office confirmed the body found was identified as Atre. "We have reason to believe the motive was robbery," a sheriff's office statement on Facebook said.Police are looking for at least two people in connection with the case, the local station KTVU reported on Tuesday.
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| The Gift Guide for the Sophisticated Geek Posted: 02 Oct 2019 02:37 PM PDT |
| Michael Avenatti Takes Stormy Daniels to Court for Millions in Legal Backpay Posted: 03 Oct 2019 12:12 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily BeastEmbattled lawyer Michael Avenatti is taking legal action against his ex-client Stormy Daniels for $2 million in legal fees from their infamous "hush agreement" lawsuit against President Donald Trump. Avenatti, who currently faces federal criminal charges set for trial next month, filed an attorney's lien on Thursday. It alleges that despite "repeated demands that Ms. Daniels fulfill her contractual obligations and pay for the millions in legal fees and costs she has enjoyed for her benefit over the last approximate 19 months, including in this case, she has refused."Avenatti, 48, claims the porn star refuses to pay up because she is a "celebrity," and is therefore "entitled to free legal services and costs" and to "manufacture and fabricate facts designed to impugn the reputation of her counsel and falsely accuse him of a multitude of acts.""But the law does not work that way Ms. Daniels wishes," reads the court filing, filed in the United States District Court in the Southern District of Ohio."I look forward to the facts and the truth about what really happened coming to light," Avenatti told The Daily Beast when reached for comment. His lawyer, Tom Warren, added: "Mr. Avenatti did an enormous amount of high quality legal work for Ms. Daniels under intense pressure and scrutiny. He made significant personal sacrifices for her benefit. He deserves to be paid by her, not criticized."Daniels and her lawyer did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment. The porn actress and Avenatti became household names in January 2018 after filing a lawsuit to nullify a "hush agreement" Daniels made with then-candidate Trump and his former fixer Michael Cohen just before the election. Since then, the two had a very public falling out back in May, and Avenatti has been hounded by legal troubles and currently faces federal charges in two states. In California, prosecutors alleged he stole $300,000 from Daniels and spent it on flights, hotels, restaurant deliveries, and to bankroll his law firm. And a New York grand jury indicted him in March for allegedly trying to extort Nike for $25 million.Avenatti's court filing this week alleges the initial February 2018 retainer agreement he made with Daniels was for "$100 up-front payment," prompting his firm to spend "thousands of attorney and staff hours, and a significant out-of-pocket-expenses." During his retention, Avenatti said he bailed Daniels out of jail "following her arrest in Columbus Ohio in July 2018" after a strip-club brawl and led the "successful efforts" to have the charges dropped."Despite the significance of his work, Ms. Daniels has yet to directly pay a single dollar to Mr. Avenatti or Avenatti & Associates, APC for their legal services beyond the $100.00 she initially paid back in 2018," the lien states. "Ms. Daniels is required to pay her lawyers." Avenatti has previously told The Daily Beast that "any and all other monies raised via a legal fund would go toward my legal fees and costs." Daniels and Avenatti alleged in her lawsuit, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, that Cohen paid her $130,000 during the 2016 campaign to stay quiet about an affair she had with then-reality TV star Trump a decade before he ran for office (the president admits to the payoff but denies the sexual tryst). The payoff allegations ultimately led to a federal investigation charging Cohen with eight campaign-finance violations. He pleaded guilty in August, admitting he made illegal payments at Trump's direction, and was sentenced to three years behind bars.But, in May, a little over a year after that lawsuit was filed, Daniels and Avenatti announced their split in a pair of tweets."I have retained Clark Brewster as my personal lawyer and have asked him and his firm to review all legal matters involving me," Daniels wrote. "Upon completion of Mr. Brewster's review and further consultation with me, I anticipate Mr. Brewster will serve as my primary counsel on all legal issues." Less than 15 minutes later, Avenatti responded with his own statement claiming he terminated his relationship with Daniels in February but would not disclose the reasons due to "attorney-client privilege."In his new legal action, Avenatti says he decided to cut ties after "Daniels became increasingly difficult, uncooperative, erratic, and unpredictable, and began falsely accusing people closely aligned with her (but not Mr. Avenatti) of theft without any legitimate basis.""Ms. Daniels' false accusations in some instances were targeted at friends of 20 years and her private security detail," the filing alleges. The letter states the firm also decided to sever ties after "prior false accusations (which you chose to make public before communicating them to me—I found out from a reporter)" and Daniels' "general lack of appreciation for our work and the thousands of hours we have devoted to you, which we have largely done for free at great expense to me and my firm."Avenatti concluded in the letter that the firm did not intend to make "any public announcement relation to our decision to no longer represent" Daniels and thanked her for the opportunity to serve as her counsel.Michael Avenatti Indicted on 36 Counts by Federal Grand JuryStormy Daniels' 'Gay Dads' Back Lawyer Michael Avenatti in Latest DramaStormy Daniels Files Defamation Lawsuit Against TrumpThis story has been updated to reflect the correct date of the lawsuit's filing.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Man gets death penalty for killing 2 in SC bank robbery Posted: 03 Oct 2019 08:42 AM PDT  A man who killed two South Carolina bank employees while taking $15,000 during a robbery was sentenced to die Thursday by a federal jury. The same jurors found Brandon Council guilty last month of armed bank robbery resulting in death, among other charges for killing the manager and a teller at CresCom Bank in Conway in August 2017. Prosecutors pushed for the death penalty, saying Council deserved to die because he chose to murder everyone in the bank while seeking easy money, pulling a gun out instead of the robbery note he had in his pocket.
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