Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 03:46 (about 44 minutes ago)
TIMOTHY A. CLARYDays before a 37-year-old philosophy professor allegedly tried to set fire to the iconic St. Patrick?s Cathedral in the heart of Manhattan, he was arrested for refusing to leave a church in New Jersey?setting off a bizarre 48 hours for a man who previously had little interaction with law enforcement.According to an arrest report of the incident at Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart obtained by The Daily Beast, Marc Lamparello was charged Monday night after he refused orders from an Essex County Deputy Sheriff to leave the Newark church.The cathedral was closing and Lamparello, who was seated in a pew according to the report, allegedly told a sheriff who asked him to leave: ?If you want me to leave tonight, you?re gonna have to handcuff me and arrest me tonight and take me to jail.?A few moments later, as two sheriffs tried to get him to leave, Lamparello apparently threw himself onto a pew and yelled ?no.? Then, as officers tried to take him into custody, he resisted, and at one point threw himself onto the church floor, stating, ?I?m not leaving. God wants me here. I know all the sins the priests have committed.? Details of the arrest emerged as authorities in New York charged Lamparello Thursday afternoon with attempted arson, reckless endangerment, and city code violations related to illegally transporting flammable materials in public places. It was not clear when Lamparello would be arraigned. He was transported Thursday afternoon to the psychiatric ward at Bellevue Hospital for evaluation, police said.Police are still working to determine Lamparello?s motive, but John Miller, the head of the NYPD?s Counterterrorism Bureau, said investigators with the NYPD and FBI in New York reviewed the case throughout the night and determined there ?doesn?t appear to be any connection to any terrorist group or any terrorist related intent here.?But, Miller added that based on Lamparello?s movements and the fact he had gasoline, lighter fluid that is used for igniting a grill, and a bag filled with lighters, police believe he was planning to set fire inside St. Patrick?s?There is significant reason to doubt the veracity of his statements and his intent with those items seem to be to set a fire,? he said.Police were particularly concerned since the incident took place days after an accidental fire destroyed parts of Notre Dame in Paris.?You would have to say from our standpoint...there was certainly attention to that when he showed up at an iconic church,? Miller said, adding that he could not say that Lamparello made any statements related to the Notre Dame fire.The charges capped a bizarre two days for Lamparello, who teaches philosophy and published a book on the subject titled Reason and Counterpoint, in 2016. Before Monday his only run-ins with the law included a drug possession charge in 2005, a senior law-enforcement official said.Lamparello has worked as a professor at several colleges and universities, including Brooklyn College, Seton Hall University, and Lehman College, where he is a part-time online professor lecturer and PhD candidate in the philosophy department. The schools confirmed Lamparello?s previous or current employment.?We are aware that an individual was arrested last night after an incident at St. Patrick?s Cathedral,? Lehman College spokesperson Sarah Ramsey said in a statement to The Daily Beast. ?The individual was hired at Lehman College during this academic year and was a part-time online instructor this semester.?After his arrest, however, Lehman confirmed that it will terminate Lamparello?s employment with the college.The New Jersey native has ties to the Catholic Church. As recently as 2013, Lamparello was the music director at St. Joseph?s Church in East Rutherford, New Jersey, according to a church bulletin posted online. Church bulletins suggest he was in the role for at least three years, beginning in 2011. The church did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast?s request for comment.It all seemed to unravel around 10:30 p.m. Monday when he was approached by police in Newark. According to the arrest report in New Jersey, Lamparello was charged with resisting arrest and obstruction and released after being evaluated by medics that responded to the scene. Lamparello did not have any flammable materials in New Jersey, police said.Miller said police determined that Lamparello has homes in both New York and New Jersey but had been living in a hotel the past few days.Investigators also learned that on Wednesday morning before he left for New York, Lamparello booked a $2,800 flight to Italy that would have departed at 5:20 p.m. Thursday, Miller said.The NYPD determined that Lamparello arrived in the area near St. Patrick?s around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night, Miller said. Surveillance video from the area and security cameras at the building show his van circling the block as well as getting in and out of the vehicle.Around 7.55 p.m., Miller said he returned to the van, opened a back door and took out the two cans of gasoline, two containers of lighter fluid, and a bag filled with lighters. About a minute later, he entered St. Patrick?s Cathedral through the front door and walked about 20 feet before he was confronted by a church usher. ?He is approached by the usher, who is working at the front door, who tells him he cannot proceed into the cathedral with these items,? Miller said. ?When he puts it down, some of it spills on the floor. He picks it up and leaves.?The usher then alerted members of the NYPD?s counterterrorism bureau who were stationed outside. Two officers followed Lamparello down 50th Street and engaged him in a conversation for ?some time? in an effort to vet his story and locate his vehicle, Miller said.?He explains that he was trying to locate his vehicle, that his vehicle was out of gas,? Miller said. ?That?s why he possessed the gasoline. At this point he is walking away from his vehicle, which is parked on Fifth Avenue, and not towards it.?The officers determined that Lamparello?s van was not out of gas or located in the direction that he was heading and arrested him for questioning, Miller said.Concerned, members of the joint terrorism task force, which includes the FBI and the NYPD, questioned Lamparello through the night, before determining that the incident appeared to be isolated.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here #
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 03:46 (about 44 minutes ago)
The first official step in what will likely be a lengthy legal battle #
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 03:46 (about 44 minutes ago)
Europe Echafaudage was one of five companies contracted to restore Notre-Dame's 90-metre (295-foot) spire, which collapsed in the blaze, crashing through the cathedral's vaulted ceiling. Footage from the camera, which was placed on the northern belltower and is now in the hands of investigators, shows the first smoke coming out of the spire's base, Marc Eskenazi, a representative for Europe Echafaudage, told Reuters. At a reception for many of the 400 firefighters who extinguished Monday's blaze, President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken to Pope Francis by phone and that the pontiff would visit France "at a time of his convenience". #
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 03:46 (about 44 minutes ago)
Nearly 40% of the 448 pages have parts blacked out but that content ? including remarks by Trump ? is not a total mysteryThe attorney general, William Barr, made redactions under four categories: harm to ongoing matters; grand jury evidence; investigative techniques; and personal privacy. Photograph: Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Mueller report contains tantalising details of Trump campaign dealings with Russia and of the president?s possible attempts to obstruct justice. But much of it is blacked out. Nearly 40% of the pages in the document contain at least one redaction, totalling nearly 1,000 in all. In some parts, entire sections have disappeared.The redactions fall into four categories. The largest is ?harm to ongoing matters?. This refers to likely future trials, including that of Trump?s friend and ally Roger Stone, who is due in court in November.The second-biggest category is ?grand jury?: material that might be used in ongoing legal matters. Information has also been removed which could compromise FBI ?investigative techniques?. The fourth category is ?personal privacy?. It concerns individuals peripheral to the core investigation by the special counsel, Robert Mueller.Trump?s attorney general, William Barr, will release a less-redacted version of the report to Congress. A close reading of the 448-page report made public offers clues as to what is missing, including remarks made by Trump about sensitive matters. 1\. Russian interference in the 2016 electionThe report gives a voluminous account of how Russian military intelligence hacked and released Democratic party emails, and how Moscow used social media to boost Trump and damage Hillary Clinton. The campaign was conducted by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a troll factory in St Petersburg funded by the businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin.Details of the IRA?s structure, history and growth since 2014 have been redacted. Also hidden are paragraphs concerning Prigozhin?s background and ties to Vladimir Putin.Paragraphs have been blacked out here because of ?harm to ongoing matters?. They appear to illuminate work done by ?Twitter specialists? and pro-Trump rallies organised by the IRA. Mueller has indicted Prigozhin and others but there is little prospect they will ever appear in a US court.Some of the most intriguing missing sections concern the GRU spy agency. Technical details have been redacted on the grounds they might reveal FBI methods. They encompass how the GRU researched Democratic websites, surreptitious payments made by Bitcoin, and the lease of computers in Arizona and US cities.Redactions in the Mueller report. Photograph: Reuters Graphics 2\. Campaign interactions with GRU and WikiLeaksMueller concluded that there was not enough evidence to establish a criminal-level conspiracy between Trump aides and Moscow. However, his report makes clear that Trump and those around him sought to use the Kremlin?s hacking and dumping to their advantage.There are crucial deletions over how the GRU transmitted stolen emails to WikiLeaks. ?[Julian] Assange has access to the internet from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, England,? the report says, with the rest of the sentence redacted. Also struck out is the name of a Clinton aide targeted by the GRU in July 2016, after Trump appealed to Russia to find Clinton?s ?missing 30,000 emails?.The most striking section is titled The Trump Campaign and the Dissemination of Hacked Materials. The campaign ?showed interest? in the leaked emails, the report says. But deletions make it difficult to piece together who communicated directly with WikiLeaks, what information was passed up to Trump, and when the campaign became aware of Moscow?s espionage work.Rick Gates, Trump?s deputy campaign manager, who cooperated with Mueller, describes Trump as ?generally frustrated? that Clinton?s emails had not been discovered. Other parts of his evidence are redacted. Similarly Michael Cohen, Trump?s personal lawyer, recalls talking to Trump in Trump Tower in July 2016, after WikiLeaks released the first tranche of emails.?Candidate Trump said something to the effect of ?? the report says. Trump?s comment is redacted.The campaign chairman Paul Manafort?s conversation with Trump on the same theme is blacked out. One imagines Trump was thrilled by the emails? publication but his remarks are missing. 3\. Contacts with RussiansThe report says the FBI began investigating Russian interference after a tip-off in July 2016. Australia?s high commissioner in London, Alexander Downer, met George Papadopoulos, a Trump foreign policy aide. A Maltese professor, Joseph Mifsud, told Papadopoulos Moscow was sitting on hacked emails and had ?dirt? on Clinton.Mueller says Mifsud travelled regularly to Moscow and was in contact with a former member of the IRA. The name has been blacked out. So is the identity of another Mifsud contact linked to Russia?s ministry of defence.The next section concerns Carter Page, another Trump aide who in summer 2016 travelled to Moscow and held talks with Kremlin officials. Lines are blacked out, including part of an email sent by Page to senior campaign figures concerning policy on Russia. The redactions are explained as ?grand jury?. Page has not been charged. It is unclear which case is meant here. 4\. ProsecutionsThis report looks at the conduct of individuals and whether they committed a federal offence. Mueller asks if there is enough evidence to sustain a conviction. He makes clear the criminal threshold is beyond reasonable doubt and does not include collusion, which is not a ?term? under US law.The special counsel refers to ?two sets of charges? brought against Russians, GRU officers and IRA employees indicted in 2018. But the names of some Americans are hidden. One name buried is almost certainly that of Stone. A paragraph begins ?Questions over whether ?? and then disappears. Two names are rubbed out from a list that also includes Cohen and Trump?s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. 5\. Violation of campaign finance lawsThe report examines possible campaign finance violations and considers if Trump campaign officials should be designated Russian agents. Lobbyists for foreign governments are obliged to register with the Department of Justice. Failure to do so is a crime: one of several charges against Manafort over his pre-Trump work in Ukraine.Mueller writes at length about the notorious Trump Tower meeting in which Manafort, Donald Trump Jr and Trump?s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer. He decided not to pursue a criminal prosecution because of the ?high burden? of proving a ?culpable mental state?. A second similar instance is discussed ? and entirely deleted. 6\. Trump?s conductThere are fewer blackouts in the second volume, which deals with possible obstruction of justice. Mueller lays out Trump?s conduct towards witnesses, his anxiety over where the Russia investigation is heading, the firing of the FBI director, James Comey, and his interactions with key players including Flynn and Manafort. Trump?s behaviour towards a third person is considered. We don?t know who this is. It might be Stone ? or someone else. The relevant passages are scrubbed. 7\. ReferralsThe report contains appendices. One is a list of dramatis personae. Names are given in alphabetical order, some removed. They include mystery surnames beginning with G or H, K and M, and a line of biography concerning Stone.The last section describes investigations which the special counsel has handed over to the FBI and the justice department. Two of these legal ?transfers? ? numbers nine and 11 ? are rubbed out, the words ?investigation ongoing? underneath. There are 13 redacted ?referrals? of cases which fall outside the scope of Mueller?s inquiry. #
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 02:16 (about 2 hours ago)
Jerry Nadler issues subpoena for Robert Mueller?s full report and the underlying documents ?to make informed decisions? * Mueller report latest ? live updates * Support the Guardian?s independent journalism and make a contributionThe House judiciary chairman, Jerry Nadler, on Friday issued a subpoena for the full, unredacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 US election and the Trump campaign.The subpoena seeks not only the ?complete and unredacted? report, but also all of the underlying documents referenced in it, including grand jury evidence. The New York Democrat said on Good Morning America that the information was necessary ?to make informed decisions? on what happens next.Nadler?s committee, which has the power to launch impeachment proceedings, voted in early April to authorize the subpoena for the report after the attorney general, William Barr, outlined the categories he intended to shield.The 448-page summary of Mueller?s nearly two-year investigation concluded without reaching a verdict on whether the president illegally obstructed justice. But the report catalogues nearly a dozen instances in which Trump attempts to stop the investigation, narrow its scope or influence witnesses involved in the inquiry. Mueller cited legal constraints which prevent the justice department from charging a sitting president with obstruction of justice ? and suggested a final say on the matter may lie with Congress.Trump, who left Washington for a long weekend at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida after the release of the report, tweeted on Friday to say parts of the ?Crazy Mueller Report? were ?total bullshit?.The subpoena came as Democrats vowed to continue investigating Donald Trump a day after the report was made public, revealing striking new details about the president?s effort to thwart a federal inquiry he believed threatened his presidency.Shortly after a redacted version of the exhaustive report was released to the public on Thursday, Nadler said it outlined ?disturbing evidence that President Trump engaged in obstruction of justice? and the ?responsibility now falls to Congress to hold the president accountable for his actions?.Nadler?s sweeping request instructs Barr to hand over ?all documents obtained and investigative materials created? by Mueller?s office. It sets Barr a deadline of 1 May, a day before Barr is set to testify before the committee Nadler heads in Congress.This document haul, amounting to all the work created over 22 months by the special counsel?s 19 attorneys and almost 40 other investigators, could well run to more than a million pages.Mueller?s team interviewed about 500 people, issued more than 2,800 subpoenas and obtained hundreds more court orders for records of electronic communications.Barr may decide to fight the request, which would mean Nadler?s committee has to go to court to request that the subpoena be enforced. It is possible that the dispute could eventually reach the US supreme court.In a statement on Friday, Nadler said he was willing to work with the justice department to ?reach a reasonable accommodation? but stressed he would not accept a situation that ?leaves most of Congress in the dark?.In a letter to colleagues, the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, declared: ?Congress will not be silent.?Sign up for the US morning briefing Republicans viscerally disagreed with the assessment that Congress should pick up where Mueller left off.?Democrats want to keep searching for imaginary evidence that supports their claims, but it is simply not there,? said the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy. ?It is time to move on.?But far from turning the page on the investigation, Democrats are opening a new, bitterly partisan chapter. Facing them now is an issue that has already sharply divided the party along ideological and generation lines: impeachment.Democratic leaders see more risk than reward in initiating an impeachment inquiry, especially after Mueller said he found ?insufficient evidence? to conclude that Trump conspired with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. Without that support, Republicans are unlikely to break with the president, as they did with Richard Nixon after Watergate.?Unless [there?s] a bipartisan conclusion, an impeachment would be doomed to failure,? the House intelligence committee chairman, Adam Schiff, said on CNN. ?I continue to think that a failed impeachment is not in the national interest.?A partisan endeavor could risk repeating what Democrats widely view as a historic overreach by Republicans, when they pursued impeachment against Bill Clinton in the late 1990s. Democrats fear that a divisive and unpopular impeachment battle would galvanize Trump?s supporters ? as it did for Clinton 21 years ago - and would swamp the party?s policy agenda that they believe is crucial to unseating Trump in the 2020 election and holding on to their majority in the House of Representatives.Still, if the House did move forward with articles of impeachment, every Senate Democrat and 20 Senate Republicans would have to vote to remove Trump from office ? an unlikely scenario at this stage.The House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, told CNN that impeachment was ?not worthwhile? with a presidential election 18 months away. Nadler said that impeachment hearings were ?one possibility? but that it was ?too early? to discuss it.?We will have to go follow the evidence where it leads,? he said. ?And I don?t know exactly where it will lead.?But in a sign that the issue is far from settled, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most vocal and high-profile members of Congress, said she would sign on to an impeachment proposal offered by her fellow freshman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.Though there are few signs Democrats are preparing to move forward with impeachment, the report has opened several potential avenues for congressional inquiry that are all but certain to consume Washington for at least the next several months.Barr said he was required by law to redact certain pieces of information, including evidence collected as part of a grand jury investigation. He has offered to meet with some congressional leaders to review a less redacted version of the report.Still, Democrats have excoriated Barr for his handling of the release of the Mueller report, accusing him of ?deliberately? distorting its findings to protect Trump.Ahead of the public release of the report, Barr held a press conference to assert that Trump?s actions did not meet the legal threshold for obstruction of justice. He repeatedly invoked Trump?s own language ? including ?no collusion? ? to defend him. His performance led some Democrats to call for his resignation. #
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 02:16 (about 2 hours ago)
That?s a rough analogy to today. Fortress China is festooned with airfields and mobile antiship weaponry able to strike hundreds of miles out to sea. Yes, the U.S. Navy remains stronger than the PLA Navy in open-sea battle. A fleet-on-fleet engagement isolated from shore-based reinforcements would probably go America?s way. But that hypothetical result may not make much difference since the two navies are more likely to join battle in confined Asian waters than on the open ocean.Ah, yes, the ?carrier-killer.? China is forever touting the array of guided missiles its weaponeers have devised to pummel U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (CVNs). Most prominent among them are its DF-21D and DF-26 antiship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), which the People?s Liberation Army (PLA) has made a mainstay of China?s anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) defenses.(This first appeared several years ago.)Beijing has made believers of important audiences, including the scribes who toil away at the Pentagon producing estimates of Chinese martial might. Indeed, the most recent annual report on Chinese military power states matter-of-factly that the PLA can now use DF-21Ds to ?attack ships, including aircraft carriers,? more than nine hundred statute miles from China?s shorelines. #
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 02:16 (about 2 hours ago)
Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko begged for forgiveness and a second chance Thursday as polls showed him facing all-but-certain defeat three days ahead of a presidential vote. In a dramatic televised address, Poroshenko pleaded with voters to support him over Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian with no political experience who has surged ahead in the polls. What did not work out hurts the most," Poroshenko said. #
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 02:16 (about 2 hours ago)
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 02:16 (about 2 hours ago)
Pope Francis held the traditional liturgy of the Passion inside St Peter's Basilica on the afternoon of Good Friday. (April 19) #
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines — 20th April 2019 at 02:16 (about 2 hours ago)
Our readers sound off on special counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report and President Donald Trump's role in Russian interference in US elections. #