MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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(SDNY) Feds Charge Avenatti for Allegedly Using Threats to Get $20 Million from Nike
By artappraiser on Mon, 03/25/2019 - 1:29pm |
URL:
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/feds-arrest-avenatti-for-allegedly-using-threats-to-get-20-million-from-nike/
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Comments
New York Times:
by artappraiser on Mon, 03/25/2019 - 1:41pm
Note the arrest is for a separate case in CA, from the NYTimes article
I am going to change my headline accordingly
by artappraiser on Mon, 03/25/2019 - 1:45pm
While it looks bad, this isn't the first time headlines screamed out bad news for Avenatti. Let's see how it looks in a couple days and a month.
(as an example when they busted Stormy in Cleveland - turned out to be a police setup, tables turned quick. Avenatti's not Stormy, of course, but again, I'll hold opinion for a bit)
by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 03/25/2019 - 2:54pm
by artappraiser on Mon, 03/25/2019 - 3:57pm
Hah, called it, Avenatti is a grifter and he is just like Trump, he wants his money and he will do what he has to do to get it.. LOL.
The moral of this story is: Carnival Barkers are Carnival Barkers, learn to discern who they are and you will inevitably win at life.
by tmccarthy0 on Mon, 03/25/2019 - 7:07pm
Sure - Avenatti had no chance against Cohen - and then somehow won - now Cohen's testifying against Trump.
Then Avenatti was hitting the TV circuit saying that Dems should fight back against Trump, play hardball - oh, that was too much, lots of condemnation, clutching at pearls.
When he went down to Texas during the immigration scandal - OMG, why doesn't he stay home! (like Hillary?). Tongue-in-cheek stuff about running for president? "oh what an inflated ego"
Stormy was arrested in Cleveland - oops, now it's over for him - then turns out police had faked & lied to arrest her.
Then Avenatti was going to face felony charges for beating his wife - oops, wasn't her, was a girlfriend - and then those charges disappeared.
Avenatti splits with Stormy with her saying some not-so-nice things - oh, he must be awful (never mind her description of Trump's dick was a bit tasteless and harmful to her case, etc....)
The moral of the story is that the world is full of carnival barkers and gossipers and crazy stuff - especially half the media as they show again and again. Did Avenatti do something wrong this time? Possibly (there have been issues about his company and shuffling debts before). But he also has a lot of enemies thanks to standing up to Trump. Was he stupid enough to illicitly try to shake down Nike? Or is Nike savvy enough to reframe a case of their wrongdoing that he was going to expose to make him look in the wrong? I don't know - 2 different charges on different coasts do make him look guiltier - but we've also seen National Enquirer/AMI do crazy stuff, seen Alex Acosta essentially free a pedophile despite overwhelming charges, seen a policewoman walk down the hall into a neighbor's apartment and shoot him & then claim he attacked her...
Anyway, I'm waiting a few days/weeks before judgment - and even if he did do this, I'm still very grateful to him for taking on Trump & Cohen back when many Dems were simply shitting themselves. You've said before that "Avenatti's just like Trump" - except he wasn't born into money, isn't so stupid he has to hide any school records, doesn't tell 5 lies in 3 sentences, is coherent, has identified with humane & progressive goals and ideals, et al. Is he a bit brash & loud? maybe - not sure where he falls in the field of Michael Cohens and Chris Christies and Rudy Giulianis and Beto O'Rourkes and Bernie Sanders and Glenn Greenwalds and Sean Hannitys and Brett Kavanaughs and Kanyes and Michael Moores, though I'd say more grounded and articulate. Is he more cocky and louder than Bloomberg, not sure. Whether he's ethical or broke the rules/law, we will likely find out real soon.
by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 03/25/2019 - 7:47pm
Oh, Jussie Smollett cleared of all charges.
Another reminder not to pre-convict people from press announcements.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47711535
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 11:57am
Smollett was cleared the way Trump was exonerated. It's likely that Smollett lied and was guilty. But it was a first time offense, he had been active in the community, and he agreed to forfeit the money paid as bail, effectively a fine. It was a plea bargain. Punishment without being charged. Sometimes guilty people are not charged because the state decides the cost of the trial exceeds the deterrent value of prosecution. There are limited resources. If there weren't plea bargains the system would break down. The resources needed to prosecute a person who can afford good legal representation would drain time and energy needed to deal with more important crimes.
by ocean-kat on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 12:28pm
They also would lose a high taxpayer. Now he can present as exonerated and get more well-paying jobs. This also makes them look "black-community friendly." And reasonable in general. So many up sides; smart prosecutors. The only losers I can think of right now: the Nigerians, more pile on for the negative stereotype of Nigerians as scammers...
by artappraiser on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 12:47pm
Yeah, I was coming back to change "cleared" to "charges dropped".
The cops didn't seem happy - they didn't seem to be fretting over proving the case.
It didn't seem like his attorneys even knew why charges dropped & case sealed.
At the same time, he maintains his innocence.
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 1:30pm
Yeah well I spoke too soon on no losers--just listened in the background to press conference of Police Chief and Rahm Emmanuel, I presumed they would be in on it but they were not, they are super pissed.
by artappraiser on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 1:59pm
Yeah, a lot of wasted time that could have been better spent tasing and sequestering black kids in secret warehouses or fucking with immigrants. "A stomach punch" the investigator said - guess he should know.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/05/homan-square-chicago-tho...
https://www.propublica.org/article/illinois-chicago-children-teens-immig...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/05/chicago-laquan-mcdonald-...
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 2:07pm
Words fail, just sharing, Seth Abramson vs. Donald Trump Jr. on Avenatti news:
Edit to add-then there's the opinion of people like Brad:
by artappraiser on Mon, 03/25/2019 - 9:30pm
Wow, yes, inflating/deflating assets and material misrepresentation is playbook #1 in Trump Org - can SDNY mive forward with this? And while we're ar it, those illegal payments to Stormy, violating well-known FEC rules (that Trump was in a previous case, so can't plead ignorance) are now 2 1/2 years old - where's *that* indictment?
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 1:04am
PS to add that Avenatti's LA/Nike charges are akin to the extortion AMI/National Enquirer tried on Bezos re: illegally obtained dick pics, something Trump wholeheartedly approved. In Avenatti's case it's over a questionable treatment of amateur athletes, but still, closing your eyes to an existing rule for the competitive field of amateur sports? Jim Thorpe lost his medals for as much. So which players (and thus teams/schools) can be subsidized by global corporates? Because Nike's probably not gonna pay nearly as much for small-town athletes outside of major media markets, are they? (is Nike less greedy than Felicity Huffman or whatever her name is?)
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 2:15am
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 8:36am
Here is a video clip of brutal press conference announcement by prosecuting U.S. Atty. Nick Hanna in LA (he is chief of central district in CA) which addresses both indictments as if they are coordinated:
Also, besides the video, the tweet links to a CBS article which has some details I haven't seen elsewhere.
by artappraiser on Mon, 03/25/2019 - 9:43pm
Are those Officials getting their tagline from Trump Central? Can they make a gratuitous remark about sex workers now too?
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 1:06am
Are college players chattle? (and is Nike actually on the good side?)
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5c99387ae4b0743555494fbc
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 2:09am
Edit to add:
by artappraiser on Tue, 03/26/2019 - 7:18pm
I still don't quite get the Schadenfreude on the left, how we'll cheer a Beto O'Rourke wh couldn't defeat Ted Cruz despite $30m, but seems a large # of Dems dislike Avenatti even tho he put a major hole in Trump/Cohen's (and The Enquirer's) ship. Even getting the tapes on R. Kelly, a pretty vile character incl for the party's core PoC, should improve his stature, but there's a collective "who cares".
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/27/2019 - 1:42am
Seriously?! You can't see it? No mystery to me. Have you ever watched him as a guest on TV? Personality! Words that come to mind, reasons that might apply
..ruthless...brash...chip on shoulder...cut-throat...shark...bombastic...in yo face...
oh heck I'll just use a Thesauras for "self-congratulatory"
bighead, complacence, complacency, conceit, conceitedness, ego, egotism,pomposity, pompousness, pride, pridefulness, self-admiration, self-assumption, self-conceit,self-esteem, self-glory, self-importance, self-love, self-opinion, self-satisfaction, smugness,swelled head, swellheadedness, vaingloriousness, vainglory, vainness, vanity
Not the kind of person in general to appeal to a "bleeding heart liberal".
Then there's also the ambulance chaser angle....
I'm used to what it takes to play in the field that he plays, so it doesn't bother me. But he does share a lot of personality features with Trump. Of which people are very tired of seeing.
by artappraiser on Wed, 03/27/2019 - 12:01pm
Perhaps the small selection I saw gave me a skewed angle.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/27/2019 - 12:49pm
Really, and then when some people got excited that he was using Trump tactics to attack Trump he started to talk about running for president. With no relevant experience for the job. Only because he was willing to trade insults with Trump.
by ocean-kat on Wed, 03/27/2019 - 3:24pm
I thought it was brilliant - I didn't think there was any chance in hell of him running for President, but he managed to occupy the news and slap down Trump at the same time, plus goad Dems to stop being so lily-livered. If you listened to him closely at the time I think you'd hear a lot of "only if this happens" disclaimers, and in any case, who declares 3 years before an election? it was obviously to keep the Stormy anti-Trump momentum going.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/27/2019 - 4:01pm
Some people liked it as was indicated when he was cheered on in his fights with Trump. It's a matter of opinion. I have no objective reasoning to critique some who like Trump style fights used against Trump though Arta might assert it's counter productive politically. But I'm with Arta on this in that I don't like that style of campaigning.
by ocean-kat on Wed, 03/27/2019 - 4:22pm
Typically Sunday morning TV invites 3-4 Republicans/conservatives and 0-1 Democrats.
For a short while Avenatti made up some of the difference.
Sure, if AOC can pull it off with more humor, that's great - but I don't really care much about the style -
I care about the results. Funny or nice or intelligent mixed with ineffective ain't success.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/27/2019 - 4:31pm
Democrats often seem to put forward wonks who reportedly have trouble connecting emotionally to some voters. Mondale, Gore, Hillary. I liked the wonks and liked much less the politicians that can connect emotionally. I was less happy with the winners, Bill Clinton and Obama. Neither were at the top of my list for democratic nominee. I don't understand why people loved these guys and especially why people weeped when Obama gave a speech. But since I don't get it I can't try to figure out who will connect emotionally and vote for them because they are more electable. I have to vote for the smartest wonk and let the chips fall where they may.
by ocean-kat on Wed, 03/27/2019 - 5:50pm
Proof of how ruthless it is out there in big-fee lawyer land, you live by the sword and you can die by it, too:
by artappraiser on Mon, 04/01/2019 - 7:52pm
"Bullied", eh? Unlike say, uh, R. Kelly?
So now a lawyer who pushes people to do things we're happy for and needed/wanted is a "bully", too aggressive.
Welcome to the pussy theory of politics, where change comes thru meekly and politely asking. Let's see how far this goes.
(facepalm)
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 04/02/2019 - 12:39am