Michael Avenatti faces embezzlement trial in California

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Michael Avenatti, the brash lawyer recently sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison a $25 million extortion case in New York, is expected to face a trial Wednesday in California on charges he embezzled millions from his clients.

Opening statements are scheduled in Santa Ana in the second trial this month for Avenatti, who once represented porn actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump. Avenatti is expected to represent himself in the case after U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna on Tuesday granted his request to do so.

Federal prosecutors in Southern California have accused the 50-year-old lawyer, who is currently suspended from practicing law in California, of cheating five of his clients out of nearly $10 million by negotiating and collecting settlement payments on their behalf and funneling them to accounts he controlled.

In one case, authorities said Avenatti collected $4 million from Los Angeles County for a man who suffered injuries in custody and was left paraplegic after a suicide attempt. Avenatti denied the settlement was received and paid much smaller amounts to the man ranging from $1,000 to $1,900, which he said were advances on the broader settlement, prosecutors said in court filings.

In another instance, Avenatti collected a $2.75 million settlement payment for a client and used the bulk of the money to buy a private airplane, the filings said.

Avenatti faces 10 counts of wire fraud in connection with the allegations, which span from 2015 to 2019.

He also faces charges in California of bankruptcy, bank and tax fraud. He is expected to be tried on those allegations later this year after Selna split a 36-count indictment into two trials.

In this trial, federal prosecutors said they expect to take three weeks to make their case and to call about 30 witnesses. The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles declined to comment ahead of opening statements.

In court filings, lawyer H. Dean Steward — who previously represented Avenatti and continues to assist in the case— raised concerns about the jury selection process and sought unsuccessfully to delay the trial, arguing that widespread publicity following Avenatti's New York sentencing could affect his rights in this case. A message left for Steward was not returned.

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/michael-avenatti-faces-embezzlement-trial-054626200.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink

How safe is the U.S. president's 'nuclear football'?

It’s called the “nuclear football” and wherever the President goes, the briefcase goes.

It contains the launch codes needed for a nuclear strike. But now the Pentagon is asking, how safe is the thing, after it was revealed that one of the briefcases almost came in range of the rioters that stormed congress on January 6.

The Pentagon’s watchdog, the Inspector General's office, says it's now evaluating to what extend officials can detect and respond if it's "lost, stolen or compromised."

The football is officially called the "Presidential Emergency Satchel" and one U.S. official told Reuters that the January 6 siege helped trigger the evaluation.

Vice President Mike Pence was at the U.S. Capitol at the time, accompanied by a military aide carrying a backup nuclear football when President Trump's supporters stormed the place.

Security camera footage shows Pence being escorted to safety, the satchel right behind him.

Even if rioters had taken possession of the satchel, any nuclear strike order would still have needed to be confirmed and processed by the military.

But this was just one of several times during Trump's presidency that the security of the nuclear football came into question.

Rewind to 2017: Trump was in Beijing having lunch with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

A Chinese security official got into a tussle in another room with the U.S. military aide carrying the briefcase.

According to a former senior Trump administration official, the White House chief of staff John Kelly intervened and got into a physical altercation with the Chinese official to ensure the nuclear football did not get away from the military aide.

Also on Jan. 20 of this year, Trump insisted on leaving Washington before the inauguration of Democrat Joe Biden.

That meant a live football would have to go with him to be on hand until Biden was sworn in.

Trump was accompanied by a military aide carrying a nuclear football.

These incidents will all be looked at as the Pentagon accesses just how secure the nuclear button is.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/safe-u-presidents-nuclear-football-131150217.html

Closing exits?

U.S extends travel restrictions at Canada, Mexico land borders through Aug. 21

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least Aug. 21, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said on Wednesday.

The 30-day extension came after Canada announced Monday it will start allowing fully-vaccinated U.S. visitors into the country on Aug. 9 for non-essential travel after the COVID-19 pandemic forced an unprecedented 16-month ban that many businesses complained was crippling them.

One difficult question for the Biden administration is whether it would follow Canada's lead and require all visitors to be vaccinated for COVID-19 before entering the United States, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.

The White House plans a new round of high-level meetings to discuss the travel restrictions and the potential of mandating COVID-19 vaccines, but no decisions have been made, the sources said.

In early June, the White House launched interagency working groups with the European Union, Britain, Canada, and Mexico to look at how to eventually to lift restrictions.

Businesses in Canada and the United States, particularly the travel and airline industries, pushed for an end to restrictions on non-essential travel between the two countries, which were imposed in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic.

Since then, the land border has been closed to all non-essential travel. However, the United States has allowed Canadians to fly in, while Canada has not allowed Americans to do the same.

The United States has continued to extend the restrictions on Canada and Mexico on a monthly basis since March 2020.

Airlines and others have urged the administration to lift restrictions covering most non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in Britain, the 26 Schengen nations in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-extends-travel-restrictions-canada-135400053.html

>>14167492

I believe so.

It was also a 30 day Extension…

>>14167565

21 12

576

Q !UW.yye1fxo 01/21/2018 21:12:19

>>119569

Not from WL.

[CLAS-N-DI_9] gg_dump [No Such Agency].

It does not technically exist as open-source.

Q

>>119769

The flood is coming.

Emails, videos, audio, pics, etc.

FBI accidentally deletes texts?

No Such Agency accidentally releases IT ALL>

Shall we play a game?

Q

>>14167594

China's Artificial Sun Just Smashed a Fusion World Record

China’s “artificial sun” tokamak has sustained a plasma reaction for a whopping 101 seconds at 120 million degrees Celsius, setting new records in the field of nuclear fusion. The breakthrough could pave the way for a carbon-neutral energy future.

☢️ You love nuclear. So do we. Let’s nerd out over nuclear together.

EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak), or HT-7U, is a custom-built fusion reactor that has operated in different phases since 2006. Like many of the world’s tokamak experiments, EAST has reached fusion before. As a refresher, inside the donut-shaped (or, sometimes, more spherical) containment of a tokamak, sun-hot plasma swirls in a circle that’s held in place by supercooled electromagnets.

This magnetic field is the only thing floating between 360-million-degree plasma and a bunch of human-made materials that obviously can’t sustain that temperature. The plasma results from smashing different nuclei together, fusing them rather than splitting them.

This requires a huge energy investment, which critics say means fusion will never really get off the ground. And so far, all tokamaks work for just a scant few seconds at lower temperatures before something goes wrong.

more

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a36630528/china-artificial-sun-breaks-fusion-world-record/

>>14167640

If they keep picking off the competition with "covid positive" status, there won't be much competition.

Rigged Olympics.

>>14167678

It's a guy, so…

>>14167690

False Positives.

[THEY] say, oooh, you got the covid, you can't go…too bad, so sad…

Do not question our authorita

>>14167720

Critics have crossed the line by accusing actress Kate Beckinsale of using Botox injections. Well, she’s had enough of the criticism.

“I haven’t had any,” Beckinsale, 47, said in a Fox News article. “I’m not against people having it. [But] I do get pissed off. It’s sort of a given that I’ve had it, which I just literally haven’t.”

Kate Beckinsale, who is from Great Britain, said she has a valid reason for not doing anything like Botox at all.

“I’m frightened of paralyzing my face,” Kate Beckinsale said. “My mum’s voice is in my head, very loud, at all times. My mum wouldn’t even get a facial, she is suspicious of anything like that, and looks f—–g radiant and amazing. I know if I did do Botox, I’d be the one that would get the droopy eye, and my mum would go, ‘I f—–g told you! See? You should never do that.'”

Kate Beckinsale Won’t Do Botox But Admits To Enjoying ‘Vampire Facial’

She’s probably best remembered for appearing in the “Underworld” series of films as Selene. But Beckinsale also has appeared in action films like “Van Helsing,” “Whiteout,” and “Total Recall.”

But the actress hasn’t completely dismissed all procedures. While she won’t do Botox, Kate Beckinsale does enjoy the “Vampire Facial,” where blood plasma is re-injected into the face, creating a tightened, luminous effect.

“That’s a real thing, from your own body,” Beckinsale said. “But not with scary poisonous things!”

Besides, she’s been there, done that around Hollywood trying to keep her younger.

“People started trying to worry me about turning 40 when I was turning 33,” the actress said. “If you overload it like that, you’re going to make the person not give a s—t.”

https://outsider.com/news/entertainment/kate-beckinsale-calls-out-critics-say-she-uses-botox/

>>14167755

Dubs confirm

Air Lamb-Da

Fauci & Wife being exposed?

Did you get yer shot? You signed a Consent Form…

How national security gave birth to bioethics

Starting near the end of World War II and continuing until the 1970s, the US government sponsored radiation experiments on human subjects. Some of these experiments were conducted to understand the effects of radiation on atomic bomb workers. Others were to learn about the benefits of radiation for cancer patients. Many of the experiments were conducted in secret or not well understood by the public.

Twenty years ago, a committee appointed by President Bill Clinton reported on decades of radiation experiments conducted under the auspices of the federal government.

I was a senior staff member of that committee. Even though I had been teaching bioethics for 15 years, I was stunned to discover that my understanding of my field was drastically incomplete. I failed to appreciate that national security was the reason for many experiments in the history of medicine. After that experience, I published my book Undue Risk about human experiments and national security.

Unethical incidents often gave rise to ethical standards we now take for granted. But even when ethical standards were in place, there were times when they were grievously violated.

Starting near the end of World War II and continuing until the 1970s, the US government sponsored radiation experiments on human subjects. Some of these experiments were conducted to understand the effects of radiation on atomic bomb workers. Others were to learn about the benefits of radiation for cancer patients. Many of the experiments were conducted in secret or not well understood by the public.

Twenty years ago, a committee appointed by President Bill Clinton reported on decades of radiation experiments conducted under the auspices of the federal government.

I was a senior staff member of that committee. Even though I had been teaching bioethics for 15 years, I was stunned to discover that my understanding of my field was drastically incomplete. I failed to appreciate that national security was the reason for many experiments in the history of medicine. After that experience, I published my book Undue Risk about human experiments and national security.

Unethical incidents often gave rise to ethical standards we now take for granted. But even when ethical standards were in place, there were times when they were grievously violated.

Having so many sick sailors, soldiers and marines could cripple the war effort, so figuring out how to treat servicemen more effectively in the future became a matter of serious military interest.

In 1946, just after World War II, through the cooperation of American and Guatemalan officials, experiments on sexually transmitted diseases began in Guatemala. The goal was to see if the new wonder drug penicillin could cure these STDs.

The experiments involved hundreds of sex workers, prisoners, mental patients, soldiers and even children who were intentionally exposed to STDs. The Guatemala experiment was forgotten, at least in the US, until Wellesley College historian Susan Reverby discovered documents about the experiments in 2010 and reported her find to the US government.

That same year, president Barack Obama personally apologized to the president of Guatemala for the experiments. Obama also ordered his presidential bioethics commission to investigate the experiments and report to him about how such ethical violations could have happened. Once again, I was fortunate to be on the staff of this presidential commission.

Military research

Ironically, while the experiments in Guatemala were going on in the late 1940s, three American judges were hearing the arguments in a war crimes trial in Germany. Twenty-three Nazi doctors and bureaucrats were accused of horrific experiments on people in concentration camps.

The judges decided they needed to make the rules around human experiments clear, so as part of their decision they wrote what has come to be known as the Nuremberg Code. The code states that “the voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.”

more

https://theconversation.com/how-national-security-gave-birth-to-bioethics-40528