molotovsoftball.com

cnn.com – By Michelle Shen – Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. experienced a series of health issues in recent years, including an abnormality that he said was caused by a worm that entered his brain and then died, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

In 2010, Kennedy, now 70, experienced severe memory loss and mental fog, he said in a deposition two years later. According to the Times, he consulted top neurologists familiar with the medical history of his uncle, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who had died of brain cancer in 2009. A New York doctor, after reviewing a scan of his brain, told him that his health issues could be “caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” Kennedy said in the 2012 deposition, which concerned a divorce from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy. Robert Kennedy said at the time that his earning power had been negatively affected by the cognitive issues, the Times reported.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/politics/rfk-jr-mercury-poisoning-brain-parasite/index.html 

May 6, 2024

The cluster of gold simmering so-called UFOs sparked widespread curiosity after they were spotted in the night sky above following a 5.6 magnitude earthquake close to Turhal, in Turkey

mirror.co.uk – By Anders Anglesey – A cluster of what appeared to be UFOs stunned onlookers after they were spotted in the night sky following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake.

The tremor was recorded about 25 miles from Turhal, about 481 miles east of Turkey’s largest city Istanbul, at about 6:10pm on April 18. While the quake had a shallow depth of six miles, it was widely felt in the region.

Locals were left stunned when a swarm of bright lights shimmered in the night sky later that night. In one recording, dozens of bright lights could be seen shooting across the night sky as a couple discussed what it could be. The man said: “You need to see this.” A woman replied: “What are those? Why are the birds shining like white gold?”

More…. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/cluster-ufos-spotted-night-sky-32745820 

rollingstone.com – by Daniel Kreps – Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of fraud charges in connection to his collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Bankman-Fried was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and violations of campaign finance law in December 2022. The then-30-year-old allegedly defrauded millions of investors through FTX crypto schemes, including using customer investments in the amount of $8 million to fund side investments and pay off debts.

In November 2023 – after a trial that featured both shocking testimony from ex-girfriend/co-conspirator Caroline Ellison as well as evasive testimony from Bankman-Fried himself in his own defense – SBF was convicted of the federal charges, which carried a sentence of up to 115 years in prison.

Prior to sentencing, Bankman-Fried addressed the court and said the FTX collapse “haunts him every day.” “A lot of people feel really let down, and they were very let down, and I am sorry about that.” he said. “I am sorry about what happened at every stage. And there are things I should’ve done and things I shouldn’t have.”

SBF added prior to sentencing (via CNN), “My useful life is probably over. It’s been over for a while now.”

His lawyer, Marc Mukasey, told the judge, “Sam was not a ruthless financial serial killer who set out every morning to hurt people. His real motivations were misapprehended and misunderstood. Really, he’s an awkward math nerd.”

more…  https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-prison-ftx-fraud-trial-1234995536/ 

politico.com – Donald Trump told an appellate court here Monday that he can’t obtain a bond for the full amount of the civil fraud judgment against him — more than $450 million, including interest — raising the possibility that the state attorney general’s office could begin to seize his assets unless the court agrees to halt the judgment while the former president appeals the verdict.

Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing that “ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is a ‘practical impossibility,’” adding that those efforts “have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers.”

When a defendant appeals a civil judgment, the defendant can prevent collection efforts while the appeal proceeds by either posting the full amount into an escrow fund or securing a third-party bond to guarantee the full amount.

More… https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/18/trump-cant-post-bond-new-york-civil-case-00147563 

washingtonpost.com – by Glenn Kessler – “Unlike racist Joe Biden, I have spent my entire life working hand in hand with Black Americans to create jobs, build buildings, invest in our communities and expand opportunities and freedom for citizens of every race, religion, color. I built a lot of buildings. I want to tell you, a Black worker is a great worker. You’ve done an incredible job.”

— Former president Donald Trump, remarks during a speech to Black Conservative Federation gala, Columbia, S.C., Feb. 23

During his presidency, Trump often claimed he had done more for Black Americans than any other president — or, he sometimes might concede, since Abraham Lincoln. Historians scorned his claim. Many cited Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It was Johnson, the historians said, who after Lincoln was the president who made the most lasting impact on the lives of African Americans.

To make his case, Trump would cite achievements like a low Black unemployment rate, increased funding for historically Black colleges and universities (a congressional initiative, not an executive branch one) or passage of an opportunity zone program.

“Trump’s so-called accomplishments will not even be noticed by historians five years from now,” said H.W. Brands, historian at the University of Texas at Austin, in 2020.

Trump recited those claims yet again when he addressed a group of Black conservatives last week, even if the talking points have become woefully out of date.

More… https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-says-he-s-long-worked-hand-in-hand-with-black-people-let-s-review/ar-BB1iXgvR 

nbc.com – By Ken Dilanian i- She called herself Anna, and she reached out to Barry May over social media.

“It was on Facebook, was an Asian woman that supposedly lived in New York, on Fifth Avenue,” he said. “And so we just started chatting.”

Soon, he said, Anna was sending explicit photos. May, a divorced and retired insurance adjuster living in Mississippi, was smitten. She told him they could be together, but first she needed a favor.

Her aunt, she said, was holding $3 million of her money. She needed May to invest in cryptocurrency, so her aunt “would release that money to her and then she could come to me and we could get married.”

She promised huge returns. He sold property and liquidated his 401(k), sending the woman more than $500,000 — his life savings. An account on a website appeared to show his holdings.

He was about take out a loan to send more, until one day he got a call from an FBI agent. “They said this is a major fraud situation, and I’m not the only one.”

More… https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/pig-butchering-scams-rise-fbi-moves-stop-bleeding-rcna137009 

cnn.com – By Jack Forrest – GOP former Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday warned of a Republican Party “Putin wing” after former President Donald Trump responded to the death of outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny without actually mentioning him or Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We have to take seriously the extent to which you’ve now got a Putin wing of the Republican Party. I believe the issue this election cycle is making sure that the Putin wing of the Republican Party does not take over the West Wing of the White House,” Cheney told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

President Joe Biden and Trump struck dramatically different tones in their respective responses to the death of the jailed Russian opposition figure.

Biden, in his comments at the White House following the announcement of Navalny’s death, forcefully pinned the blame on “Putin and his thugs.”

“Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. Nobody should be fooled,” Biden said.

Trump, meanwhile, said nothing directly about Navalny in a post that his campaign said was his official response to the opposition leader’s death – instead posting more than 20 times about a variety of topics including his criminal cases and his political opponents.

“When you think about Donald Trump, for example, pledging retribution, what Vladimir Putin did to Navalny is what retribution looks like in a country where a leader is not subject to the rule of law,” Cheney said Sunday.

The former president earlier this month also said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines and would not offer such a country US protection – a stance that NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said “undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.”

More… https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/18/politics/liz-cheney-navalny-putin-gop-cnntv/index.html