MAY 14, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


THIS DOES SOUND LIKE ANOTHER OF THOSE POLITICO/RELIGIOUS SUICIDES, MEANT TO INCLUDE AS MANY OTHER PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. I DO AGREE WITH GEORGE W. BUSH ON ONE THING. THAT IS MURDER AND NOT SUICIDE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-crash-deliberate-panel-of-aviation-experts/
CBS NEWS May 14, 2018, 7:17 AM
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crash was deliberate, aviation experts suggest

An investigation by an Australian TV news program suggests the pilot of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared with 239 people aboard more than four years ago, deliberately crashed into the Indian Ocean.

Investigators are still searching for the aircraft, but these findings raise the possibility that one of the greatest aviation mysteries in modern history may not have been a catastrophic accident, but instead a possible mass murder-suicide.

"60 Minutes Australia" brought together an international group of aviation experts who say that the disappearance of MH370 was a criminal act by veteran pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

"He was killing himself; unfortunately, he was killing everybody else on board, and he did it deliberately," said Canadian Air crash investigator Larry Vance.

mh370-expert-panel-60-minutes-australia-620.jpg
A panel of aviation experts and air crash investigators discusses the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. "60 MINUTES AUSTRALIA"
Boeing 777 pilot and instructor Simon Hardy reconstructed the flight plan based on military radar, and says Captain Shah flew along the border of Malaysia and Thailand, crossing in and out of each country's airspace to avoid detection.

"It did the job," Hardy said, "because we know, as a fact, that the military did not come and intercept the aircraft."

Hardy also made a strange discovery: Captain Shah likely dipped the plane's wing over Penang, his hometown.

"Somebody was looking out the window," he suggested.

"Why did he want to look outside Penang?" asked reporter Tara Brown.

"It might be a long, emotional goodbye -- or a short, emotional goodbye," Hardy replied.

Two experts from the "60 Minutes Australia" investigation also disagreed with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's scenario of the "death dive" with no one in control.

"I think someone was controlling the aircraft until the end," said Hardy.

They argue instead that Captain Shah flew Flight MH370 another 115 miles than originally thought. "This was a mission by one of the crew to hide the aircraft as far away from civilization as possible," Hardy said. "Which puts us way outside the search area that is currently being done."

The wreckage uncovered so far may be further evidence that the pilot actually had control and that it was not a high speed crash. As Larry Vance noted of one wing component recovered from the shore of Africa, "The front of it would be pressed in and hollow. The water would invade inside and it would just explode from the inside. So this piece would not even exist."

mh370-plane-component-60-minutes-australia-620.jpg
Larry Vance and reporter Tara Brown with a wing component recovered from the vanished MH370. CBS NEWS
"They are very compelling," aviation analyst Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group, told CBS News' Kris Van Cleave. "What I find very compelling is the hypothesis that the pilot did this deliberately, and did one of the most heinous acts in modern commercial aviation."

CBS News spoke to multiple family members of the MH370 victims, and some say that this is nothing new and that without forensic evidence, they will not be convinced.

Captain Shah's family tells CBS News that "pointing a finger toward him does not make them expert investigators – they have to find the plane."

Malaysia Airlines has not yet responded to our requests for comment.

To watch the full "60 Minutes Australia" report, "MH370: The Situation Room," click on the video player below.


MH370 - The Situation Room | 60 Minutes Australia by 60 Minutes Australia on YouTube


© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


THIS, THANK GOODNESS, IS AN ACCIDENTAL EVENT RELATED TO A BLOCKED DUCT OF SOME SORT, THE ARTICLE SAYS. IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I FLEW, AND I'M NOT UNHAPPY ABOUT THAT.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/southwest-flight-861-emergency-landing-dallas-cabin-pressure/
CBS NEWS May 14, 2018, 6:29 AM
Southwest Flight 861 makes emergency landing in Dallas after "pressurization event"

DALLAS -- A Southwest Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing Saturday in Dallas. CBS/Dallas Fort Worth reports the plane is now undergoing a maintenance review. Flight 861 was headed from Denver to Dallas Saturday night, and there were more than 100 passengers on board.

Passenger Glen Eichelberger said at around 9 p.m., the oxygen masks came down and passengers were told to put them on because the cabin was losing pressure.

However on Monday, Southwest issued a statement to CBS News saying the cabin did not lose pressure.

"The pressurization event was related to an aircraft duct that resulted in the oxygen masks deploying; the cabin did not depressurize," the statement said.

Passenger Josh Trimberger said the plane was about 30 minutes outside of Dallas at that point.

"Luckily, we were in the DFW area where we have Alliance, Love Field and DFW," said Trimberger.

"I had no idea what was going on or what the outcome was going to be," said Eichelberger. "I reached over and grabbed Josh by the arm because I didn't know if we were going to make it or not. There was no communication whatsoever from the flight attendants or from the cockpit as far whether we were in mortal danger."

southwest-e1526265000678.jpg
Southwest Flight 861 was forced to make an emergency landing in Dallas after the cabin started losing pressure. CBS DFW

The two wish there was better communication on board, but said, luckily, it didn't take long for the pilot to get the plane safely on the ground.

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines said there were no major injuries, but paramedics did have to treat some passengers for ear pain. In an email response, the spokesperson called the landing uneventful, but passengers on board said that's not the case.

"When you're in the air 20,000 feet above the ground and don't know what's going on, it's not uneventful," said Eichelberger.

Eichelberger and Trimberger said they recognize accidents happen and will still be flying Southwest, but hope passenger safety is being taken seriously.

"They do thousands of flights a day and it's a rare instance that this happened and I think it could have happened to anybody," said Trimberger.

Saturday's emergency landing is just the latest safety scare for Southwest Airlines. Last month, a mother was killed after a jet engine exploded during a flight. A few weeks later, a cracked window prompted another emergency landing.

Latest air travel nightmares

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


I KNEW THINGS LIKE THIS WOULD HAPPEN, AND IT CERTAINLY DIDN'T TAKE VERY LONG TO START HAPPENING. I'M GLAD I LIVE IN A WESTERN NATION WITHOUT ANYTHING THAT WE CAN CALL INTERNECINE WARFARE -- AT LEAST AT THIS POINT. THE WAY THINGS HAVE BEEN LOOKING IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, THOUGH, THAT IS PROBABLY TEMPORARY.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-gaza-border-clashes-as-us-embassy-jerusalem-opens-today-2018-5-14/
CBS/AP May 14, 2018, 8:15 AM
Dozens killed as U.S. Embassy opens in Jerusalem

GAZA STRIP -- Israeli troops fired from across a border fence Monday, shooting and killing at least 52 Palestinians and wounding hundreds more in protests near the Gaza border, according to Palestinian officials, casting a dark shadow over the ceremony marking the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Monday's protest was against a decade-long blockade of the Palestinian territory, but also aimed at the inauguration of the embassy in the contested holy city.

President Donald Trump announced his decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, triggering a joyous reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist government. The move infuriated the Palestinians, who seek to establish a future capital in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cut ties with the Trump administration and declared it unfit to remain in its role as the sole mediator in peace talks.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide, blasted the Trump administration Monday, saying Mr. Trump had violated a promise to hold off on moving the embassy to give peace talks a chance and that his administration is "based on lies."

Erekat said the Trump administration has "become part of the problem, not part of the solution." He suggested Mr. Trump's Mideast team was unqualified, saying "the world needs real leaders, and those (White House officials) are real estate dealers, not leaders."

President Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and he husband Jared Kushner, who has had a prominent role in shaping the administration's Middle East policy in spite of his relative inexperience in international diplomacy, were both in Jerusalem to attend the inauguration ceremony on Monday.

Border violence
Gaza residents streamed to the border area for what was intended to be the largest protest yet against the decade-old blockade of the territory. Israel's military had warned that it would stop any border breach at all costs, warning protesters that they are endangering their lives.

Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said 37 people were killed and almost 2,000 injured by the Israeli fire across the border on Monday. The death toll was climbing fast, making it the deadliest day in Gaza since the devastating cross-border war between the territory's Hamas rulers and Israel in 2014.

Since weekly border marches began in late March, more than 70 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 3,500 wounded by Israeli army fire.

Early Monday morning, Israeli jets dropped leaflets onto the gathering protest crowds, warning that anyone approaching the border fence would risk their lives in doing so, and blaming the Hamas militant group, which controls Gaza, for any harm that comes to Palestinians in the standoff.

The warning said the army was "prepared to face all scenarios and will act against every attempt to damage the security fence or harm IDF soldiers or Israeli civilians."

Near Gaza City, hundreds gathered about 150 yards from the fence.

Protester Mohammed Hamami, 40, said the march was a "message to Israel and its allies that we will never give up on our land." Most Gaza residents are descendants of refugees from the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation.

Gaza's Hamas rulers said tens of thousands were expected to head to the border Monday and raised the possibility of large crowds breaking through the fence.

With Israel and Hamas digging in, there has been growing concern about large numbers of casualties.

Monday's march is part of a weekslong campaign, led by Hamas and fueled by despair among Gaza's 2 million people, to break the decade-old border blockade of the territory by Israel and Egypt.

Embassy move
Administration officials have dismissed Palestinian criticism, portraying the embassy opening as an essential step toward an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem will be covered live on @FoxNews & @FoxBusiness. Lead up to 9:00 A.M. (eastern) event has already begun. A great day for Israel!

6:54 AM - May 14, 2018
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As the death toll mounted in Gaza, both President Trump and Netanyahu lauded the embassy move, with the U.S. president declaring it "A great day for Israel!" and Netanyahu thanking him not long after and proclaiming it "an amazing day" for the Jewish state.


Benjamin Netanyahu
✔
@netanyahu
What an amazing day!
Thank you, @POTUS Trump. https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/995980604016611329 …

7:22 AM - May 14, 2018
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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking Monday at an event in Jerusalem ahead of the opening ceremony, said it was a U.S. "national security priority" to relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Mr. Trump's Mideast peace negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, wrote on Twitter that "the long-overdue step of moving our Embassy is not a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace deal."


Greenblatt and other administration officials have not said how they would move forward without a Palestinian partner.

Robert Gates: Concept of 2-state solution "on life support, barely"
Netanyahu praised Mr. Trump's "bold decision" in upending decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. "It's the right thing to do," a smiling Netanyahu told the jubilant crowd at a reception in Jerusalem late Sunday.

Although Mr. Trump has said his declaration does not set the final borders of the city, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital has been perceived by both Israel and the Palestinians as taking Israel's side in the most sensitive issue in their conflict. Only two countries, Guatemala and Paraguay, have said they will follow suit. Most of the world maintains embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the Jerusalem issue must first be resolved.

In a reflection of the deep sensitivities, dozens of countries -- including Britain, France and Germany -- skipped a celebration Sunday night at the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


THE MICHAEL AVENATTI COUNTER ATTACK

http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/14/michael-avenatti-threatens-daily-caller-news-foundation/
Michael Avenatti Threatens To Sue Daily Caller News Foundation Reporters Personally
PETER HASSON & JOE SIMONSON
12:20 PM 05/14/2018

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for adult film star Stormy Daniels in her legal battles against President Donald Trump, threatened to sue reporters at The Daily Caller News Foundation for writing about his legal and business history.

Michael Avenatti email threatens lawsuit against Daily Caller News Foundation (Photo: The Daily Caller News Foundation)
Avenatti tried to claim his uninvited email was off record, even though TheDCNF never agreed to those terms.

“Let me be clear. If you and your colleagues do not stop with the hit pieces that are full of lies and defamatory statements, I will have no choice but to sue each of you and your publication for defamation,” Avenatti wrote in an email to TheDCNF.

“During that process, we will expose your publication for what it truly is. We will also recover significant damages against each of you that participated personally. So if I were you, I would tell Mr. Trump to find someone else to fabricate things about me.”

“If you think I’m kidding, you really don’t know anything about me. This is the last warning,” he warned.

Avenatti’s threats came after TheDCNF wrote a story on the lawyer’s questionable history. (RELATED: With Avenatti In The Spotlight, His Own Questionable Past Emerges)

Follow Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHasson

Follow Joe on Twitter.


THESE DAILY CALLER STORIES ABOUT AVENATTI ARE INTERESTING, BUT POSSIBLY NOT TOTALLY TRUE, AND FROM THIS WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE IN THE “CONTROVERSIES” SECTION, DAILY CALLER IS FAR FROM A CLEAN, FAIR AND HONEST NEWS SOURCE. THEY’RE BIASED AND HAVE BEEN CHALLENGED FROM PRINTING LIES, ESPECIALLY ABOUT LIBERALS. THEY HEART OF THE DAILY CALLER IS THE RIGHTIST LEANING. I DON’T USUALLY USE NEWS FROM THE CALLER FOR THAT REASON. THIS WAS A TRUMP-RELATED STORY THAT I HAD HEARD JUST A BIT ABOUT IT ON THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW, AND I WAS CURIOUS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Caller
The Daily Caller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Daily Caller is a conservative American news and opinion website based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by political pundit Tucker Carlson[2][3] and Neil Patel, former adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney. The site's coverage includes politics, business, world news, entertainment, sports, education, technology, outdoors, and energy.

The Daily Caller launched on January 11, 2010, as a politically conservative[4][5] news and commentary outlet and alternative to the liberal The Huffington Post, similarly featuring sections in broad range of subjects beyond politics. By late 2012, The New York Times reported that the site had quadrupled its page view and total audience and had become profitable without ever buying an advertisement for itself.[6]

History

The Daily Caller was founded by Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel. After raising $3 million in funding from businessman Foster Friess, the website was launched on January 11, 2010. The organization started with a reporting staff of 21 in its Washington office.

By 2013, the site was receiving over 35 million views a month according to Quantcast, surpassing rival sites such as The Washington Times, Politico, and Forbes.[7] The site has an active community, with over 200,000 comments made each month.

Notable figures have commented on The Daily Caller. Karl Rove said that, "The Daily Caller is necessary reading for anyone who wants to be up to speed with what's going on with politics in America." Larry Kudlow referred to the site as, "one of my faves."[7]

Staff and contributors

Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson
The Daily Caller is in the White House rotating press pool and has full-time reporters on Capitol Hill.[8] Notable staff and columnists include Ann Coulter.[9] . . . .

Controversies

False prostitution allegations

In March 2013 The Daily Caller posted interviews with two women claiming that New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez had paid them for sex while he was a guest of a campaign donor.[19] The allegation came five days before the 2012 New Jersey senate election. News organizations such as ABC News, which had also interviewed the women, the New York Times, and the New York Post declined to publish the allegations, viewing them as unsubstantiated and lacking credibility.[20][21][22] Subsequently, one of the women who accused Menendez stated that she had been paid to falsely implicate the senator and had never met him.[20][23] Menendez's office described the allegations as "manufactured" by a right-wing blog as a politically motivated smear.[24]

A few weeks later, police in the Dominican Republic announced that three women had claimed they were paid $300–425 each to lie about having had sex with Menendez.[25] Dominican law enforcement also alleged that the women had been paid to lie about Menendez by an individual claiming to work for The Daily Caller. The Daily Caller denied this allegation, stating: "At no point did any money change hands between The Daily Caller and any sources or individuals connected with this investigation".[26] Describing what it saw as the unraveling of The Daily Caller's "scoop", the Poynter Institute wrote: The Daily Caller stands by its reports, though apparently doesn't feel the need to prove its allegations right".[27]

Fox News controversy
In March 2015 The Daily Caller columnist Mickey Kaus quit after editor Tucker Carlson refused to run a column critical of Fox News coverage of the immigration policy debate.[28] Carlson, who also works for Fox, reportedly did not want The Daily Caller publishing criticism of a firm that employed him.[29] Journalist Neil Munro quit two weeks later.[30]

A few weeks later, police in the Dominican Republic announced that three women had claimed they were paid $300–425 each to lie about having had sex with Menendez.[25] Dominican law enforcement also alleged that the women had been paid to lie about Menendez by an individual claiming to work for The Daily Caller. The Daily Caller denied this allegation, stating: "At no point did any money change hands between The Daily Caller and any sources or individuals connected with this investigation".[26] Describing what it saw as the unraveling of The Daily Caller's "scoop", the Poynter Institute wrote: The Daily Caller stands by its reports, though apparently doesn't feel the need to prove its allegations right".[27]

Fox News controversy
In March 2015 The Daily Caller columnist Mickey Kaus quit after editor Tucker Carlson refused to run a column critical of Fox News coverage of the immigration policy debate.[28] Carlson, who also works for Fox, reportedly did not want The Daily Caller publishing criticism of a firm that employed him.[29] Journalist Neil Munro quit two weeks later.[30]

2016 presidential election
According to a study by Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, The Daily Caller was among the most popular sites on the right during the 2016 presidential election. The study also found that The Daily Caller provided "amplification and legitimation" for "the most extreme conspiracy sites", such as Truthfeed, Infowars, Gateway Pundit and Conservative Treehouse during the 2016 presidential election.[31][32][33] The Daily Caller also "employed anti-immigrant narratives that echoed sentiments from the alt-right and white nationalists but without the explicitly racist and pro-segregation language."[32] The Daily Caller also played a significant role in creating and disseminating stories that had little purchase outside the right-wing media ecosystem but that stoked the belief among core Trump followers that what Clinton did was not merely questionable but criminal and treasonous. In a campaign that expressed deep anti-Muslim sentiment, a repeated theme was that Hillary Clinton was seriously in hock to Muslim nations.[32] In one of its most frequently shared stories, The Daily Caller falsely asserted that Morocco’s King Mohammed VI flew Bill Clinton on a private jet, and that this had been omitted from the Clinton Foundation's tax disclosures.[32] The Daily Caller also made the "utterly unsubstantiated and unsourced claim" that Hillary Clinton got Environmental Protection Agency "head Lisa Jackson to try to shut down Mosaic Fertilizer, described as America’s largest phosphate mining company, in exchange for a $15 million donation to the Clinton Foundation from King Mohammed VI of Morocco, ostensibly to benefit Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company."[32]

Encouragement of violence against protesters
In January 2017, The Daily Caller posted a video which encouraged violence against protesters.[34][35][36][37] The video in question showed a car plowing through protesters, with the headline "Here's A Reel Of Cars Plowing Through Protesters Trying To Block The Road" and set to a cover of Ludacris' "Move Bitch."[34] The video drew attention in August 2017 when a white supremacist plowed his car through a group of counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.[34] After the video attracted attention, The Daily Caller deleted it from its website.[34][37]

The Southern Poverty Law Center subsequently criticized The Daily Caller, saying that it had a "white nationalist problem".[38] SPLC also said that two other contributors to The Daily Caller had ties to white nationalist groups.[38] It later retracted its claim that Richard Pollock, a devout Jew, was a white nationalist, saying "Pollock was initially included in this story" but "there is no evidence to suggest Mr. Pollock is otherwise a white nationalist."[38]

Ties to alleged white nationalist members
According to Salon, Scott Greer, deputy editor of The Daily Caller, had ties to members of the white nationalist movement, including friendships with Devin Saucier, assistant to Jared Taylor of American Renaissance, and with anti-immigrant activist Marcus Epstein, who pled guilty to assaulting an African American woman two years prior.[39] Greer had later deleted parts of his Facebook page, but is seen photographed with nationalists such as Tim Dionisopoulos and Richard Spencer, and appears wearing clothes belonging to the group Youth for Western Civilization.[39]

The Daily Caller has also posted articles by Jason Kessler,[40] a white supremacist who organized a rally of hundreds of white nationalists in Charlottesville.[41][42] Before Kessler posted his article, it was known that he had spoken at white supremacist gatherings.[43] After Kessler received attention for his organizing of the Charlottesville white supremacist rally, the Daily Caller removed his articles from its website,[44] but The Daily Caller executive editor defended Kessler's articles.[45]

The website has also published pieces by Peter Brimelow.[39]

Heckling of Obama
In 2012, Daily Caller reporter Neil Munro heckled Barack Obama during one of the President's press conferences. Munro interrupted Obama while he was giving remarks. For a reporter to interrupt remarks by the president was considered startling and a breach of etiquette. Editor-in-chief Tucker Carlson defended Munro's actions, saying "As a general matter, reporters are there to ask [questions]" and that he was "proud" of Munro. Munro later said that he intended to ask questions after the president had made his remarks but that he misjudged when the president was closing his remarks.[46][47][48][49]


FINALLY, I HAVE FOUND IT. THIS ONE SEEMS TO BE THE ORIGINAL STORY CASTIGATING AVENATTI. THE DAILY CALLER STORY IS PRETTY VICIOUS, BUT AVENATTI HAS BEEN IN ENOUGH SCRAPES TO LET HIMSELF IN FOR AN ASSAULT. OF COURSE, THE DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN ET AL ARE ALSO RUTHLESS AND UNPRINCIPLED. HAVE WE FORGOTTEN “TRUMP UNIVERSITY?” BUSINESSES, LAW OFFICES ETC., ESPECIALLY THE WEALTHIEST ONES, DO TEND TO BE DIRTY TO THE CORE. THAT’S TOO OFTEN HOW THEY ACCUMULATE ALL THAT MONEY. TRUMP PROBABLY DID “SIC” THIS DAILYCALLER RIGHTIST NEWS GROUP ON AVENATTI BECAUSE HE WAS THREATENING TRUMP DIRECTLY IN THE STORMY DANIELS CASE. HOWEVER, THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THIS SET OF STORIES ALL REMIND ME OF THAT GREAT OLD SONG ABOUT “BAD, BAD LEROY BROWN.” THERE SEEM TO BE NO “GOOD” ONES.

http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/13/michael-avenatti-past-history/
With Avenatti In The Spotlight, His Own Questionable Past Emerges
PETER HASSON & JOE SIMONSON
10:18 PM 05/13/2018

Many of the developments surrounding Stormy Daniels’ lawsuit against President Donald Trump have focused on the business dealings of attorney Michael Cohen, but an investigation by The Daily Caller News Foundation reveals that Daniels’ counsel, Michael Avenatti, has his own questionable history.

Avenatti’s past is littered with lawsuits, jilted business partners and bankruptcy filings. People who have worked with the lawyer described him to TheDCNF as ruthless, greedy and unbothered by ethical questions.

Dillanos Coffee CEO David Morris claimed last Tuesday that Avenatti never paid him for over $160,000 worth of coffee that Dillanos supplied to Avenatti’s company. “So @StormyDaniels hot shot lawyer Michael owes my small company @Dillanos $160,179 for coffee,” Morris wrote on Twitter. “He talks a big talk about integrity. We trusted him.”


Screenshot/Twitter

“Michael Avenatti owned Tully’s coffee. They were a large chain of coffee shops. We are a wholesale roaster. We supplied his coffee. The $160,000 represented only a few weeks worth of beans. We cut him off when he wouldn’t pay, he had to close,” Morris explained in a subsequent tweet.

Screenshot/Twitter
Screenshot/Twitter

The Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday interviewed Avenatti over the phone on several topics including Morris’s accusations, which Avenatti denied. “I don’t owe Dillanos coffee anything. I personally don’t owe them anything,” he said. “So that’s nonsense.”

But just three hours later, Morris announced that he had deleted his original tweet after working out “an arrangement” with Avenatti.

Screenshot/Twitter
Screenshot/Twitter

A spokesperson for Dillanos told TheDCNF that Dillanos’ new agreement was with Avenatti personally but declined to disclose any details of the arrangement. Avenatti declined to comment on the reported agreement.

Avenatti first purchased Tully’s in 2013 after going into business with actor Patrick Dempsey. The pair purchased the coffee chain through a parent company, Global Baristas LLC, closing the deal on June 30, 2013. Dempsey sued Avenatti just 10 weeks later.

“My decision to become a member and manager of Global Baristas was based, in part, on Michael Avenatti’s representation that he would provide both the capital to fund the entire Tully’s acquisition and sufficient working capital to allow Global Baristas to operate the Tully’s Coffee stores once the acquisition was completed,” Dempsey said in an August 20, 2013, affidavit.

“Michael Avenatti never notified me that he intended to have or caused Global Baristas to borrow $2,000,000 for working capital, nor did he notify me that he planned to have or caused the company to pledge substantially all, if not all, of its assets to secure any loan,” Dempsey charged. Avenatti denied the accusations but agreed to a settlement just three days later.

Avenatti no longer owns Global Baristas LLC, and said he divested from the company in 2017, but he remains Tully’s general counsel.

David Nold, a Seattle attorney representing several Tully’s vendors, filed a complaint against Avenatti with the California State Bar on March 26, accusing him of fraud.

“In essence, he bought a company out of bankruptcy and then used it for a ‘pump and dump’ scheme to deprive federal and state taxing authorities of millions of dollars,” Nold claimed.

Those who have worked with Avenatti describe an individual obsessed with fame and willing to use unethical methods to win a case.

“He honestly believes he can get up and say or do anything he wants and there’s no repercussions — largely there’s not,” said one individual who has worked with Avenatti in the past.

“I know this guy; he doesn’t care about anybody but himself. He loves the attention. It’s his whole lifestyle.”

An individual who worked with Avenatti pointed to his work in a number of high-profile cases like going up against Jim Carrey and Paris Hilton as examples of his strategy of garnering as much attention as possible.

In the case of Carrey, Avenatti represented a family claiming the actor was responsible for his girlfriend’s drug overdose and subsequent death. That suit was eventually dropped without Avenatti’s client collecting any damages.

The setback mirrors another in 2012, where a $41 million verdict he won against accounting firm KPMG was reversed and the consequences of the losses are reflected in his stints at a growing list of various firms.

Yet Avenatti hasn’t limited his career to law. Outside of experimenting in artisanal coffee, he’s also dabbled in professional car racing.

This strategy, according to those who know him, helps Avenatti project an image of success, even if his ventures like Eagan O’Malley & Avenatti, LLP — which eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 — aren’t successful.

Two other lawyers associated with that firm have cut off business dealings with Avenatti, who now appears to be a solo practitioner.


THE EMAIL ITSELF

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/daily-caller-reporter-shares-off-the-record-legal-threat-from-michael-avenatti-after-negative-article/
Daily Caller Reporter Shares ‘Off the Record’ Legal Threat from Michael Avenatti After Negative Article
by Ronn Blitzer | 1:09 pm, May 14th, 2018

Daily Caller Reporter Shares ‘Off the Record’ Legal Threat from Michael Avenatti After Negative Article
by Ronn Blitzer | 1:09 pm, May 14th, 2018

Stormy Daniels‘ lawyer Michael Avenatti apparently wasn’t very happy with a recent article in The Daily Caller that detailed past allegations against Avenatti as well as some of his past cases. The piece, bearing the headline “With Avenatti In The Spotlight, His Own Questionable Past Emerges,” was published Sunday night, [MAY 13] leading to a Monday morning email from Avenatti to the article’s co-author, Peter J. Hasson.


Despite Avenatti opening his email by saying the following contents were off the record, Hasson posted it on Twitter anyway, claiming he never agreed to the “off the record” terms.

Peter J. Hasson
✔
@peterjhasson
7h
.@MichaelAvenatti sent me an email this morning threatening to sue me and my colleagues for reporting on him


Peter J. Hasson
✔
@peterjhasson
Note: @MichaelAvenatti tried to call this off record, which of course aren't terms I agreed to since it was an uninvited email pic.twitter.com/Ve6Guftwqq

11:07 AM - May 14, 2018
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“Let me be clear,” Avenatti said, “If you and your colleagues do not stop with the hit pieces that are full of lies and defamatory statements, I will have no choice but to sue each of you and your publication for defamation.” Avenatti went on to say that he would “expose” The Daily Caller “for what it truly is.” He then recommended that Hasson “tell Mr. Trump to find someone else to fabricate things about me.”


Avenatti did not specify which part of the article he took issue with, although it there could be a number of possibilities, since it does include multiple allegations about his character from unnamed sources. It also discusses several of Avenatti’s business moves, such as his past venture into the coffee industry and past cases where he represented clients suing celebrities including Jim Carrey and Paris Hilton.


Law&Crime reached out to Avenatti for comment on Hasson’s publication of the email, as well as the article itself, and will update should he respond.

This is not the first time that public comments have been made about Avenatti’s reputation. Former New York City Mayor and current Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has questioned his accomplishments in the past, prompting Avenatti to post a tweet Monday morning linking to a list of his successful and lucrative cases.



Michael Avenatti
✔
@MichaelAvenatti
To all of those that continue to try and discount me as an "ambulance chaser" or "porn lawyer" - take note. Here is a link to some of the results I have obtained as lead counsel (over $1B). Not a single one listed is a personal injury matter. #bastahttp://avenatti.com/results/

9:00 AM - May 14, 2018
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WHAT’S GOOD FOR GENERAL MOTORS IS GOOD FOR THE USA. RIGHT? FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WEREN’T BORN BEFORE 1970, SEE THIS LIL ABNER TRAILER. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj65AcbekIE. THEN, OR BEFORE PERHAPS, GO TO WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li%27l_Abner. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST MUSICALS THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN.

MANY AMERICANS THINK THAT PUMPING LIQUIDS INTO THE SOIL FOR ANY REASON IS A CAUSE OF EARTHQUAKES IN SOME PLACES, AND IT IS AT BEST “INTRUSIVE.” FURTHERMORE, MOST PLACES DO HAVE SAFE DRINKING WATER COMING OUT OF THEIR KITCHEN TAP. PERSONALLY, I WON’T PAY A DOLLAR OR TWO FOR A SMALL BOTTLE OF WATER. SO MANY OF THE THINGS THAT WE THINK NOTHING ABOUT DOING NOWADAYS ARE HARMFUL IN SOME WAY.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michigan-conservationists-say-nestles-pumping-of-well-water-unsustainable/
CBS NEWS May 14, 2018, 12:37 PM
Michigan conservationists say Nestlé's pumping of well water unsustainable

Conservationists are trying to stop Nestlé from pumping more water from a well in rural Michigan. Nestlé got a permit last month to increase production from the well in Evart, Michigan. The company says it is environmentally sustainable. But residents claim pumping more water will further damage the area's resources.

Nestlé Waters' brands, including Poland Spring, Ice Mountain and Arrowhead, brought in $4.5 billion in sales last year.

At a Nestlé plant in Standwood, in northwest Michigan, spits out water at a dizzying pace. Bottles are quickly filled, labeled, and packed.

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Water is bottled and packed at a Nestlé plant in Michigan. CBS NEWS

Factory manager Dave Sommer explained that last year Nestlé invested $37 million in a project that expanded their plant by 80,000 square feet.

In addition, Nestlé is planning to pump more water from a rural well, but the quiet here belies the controversy.

"You can live without oil, you can live without gold, but you can't live without water," said Peggy Case, president of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation. In January, the group sent a letter to state regulators, blaming Nestlé for "significant loss of surface waters" and "aquatic life" in two creeks near the well."

"The levels are down," Case said. "It's almost impossible to find trout in what used to be two cold-water trout streams," Case told CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz.

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Conservationists say the pumping of water from a local well by Nestlé Waters has adversely affected water levels and aquatic life. CBS NEWS

John McLane, who is also with the group, said, "I had water rationing in Vietnam. I don't like being without water."

In 2016, Nestlé applied for a permit to pump an additional 150 gallons per minute at White Pine Springs. The state received more than 80,000 comments from citizens about the plan; only 57 supported it.

Nestlé's request failed the state's initial environmental impact test, but after a lengthy review, it received approval last month.

Arlene Anderson-Vincent, a natural resource manager at Nestlé, said, "What we see is a very, very stable water level over a 17-year period of reference."

Which means? "That this is sustainable and we're not negatively impacting the environment."

Nestlé contractors demonstrated to Diaz how they monitor water levels.

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Water levels at a Michigan well are measured by Nestlé contractors. CBS NEWS

But Case told her, "They think their little dipstick and their little monitors somehow tell a story; they don't."

"So, do you think they're lying?" asked Diaz

"Nestlé is a corporation with a PR plan. They have their story, we have ours."

When asked why Nestlé believes increasing the amount of water pumped would not adversely effect the environment, Anderson-Vincent replied, "Nestlé Waters employs a group of natural resource managers as myself. Our job is to ensure that the withdrawal is sustainable."

Anderson-Vincent showed Diaz where the groundwater in question emerges into springs.

Diaz asked, "Do you have a sense of what level would be unsustainable? Is it 1,000 gallons a minute?"

"Um, I don't," she replied. "We've looked at 500, 600, 700 gallons a minute, and really felt 400 gallons was extremely protective of the ecosystem here. … It's a conservative number."

"People are so angry," said State Senator Rebekah Warren. "It feels like a company's profits are being put ahead of the needs of the citizens of Michigan, and a resource that, if you grew up in this area, people love our great lakes."

Nestlé Waters says they've invested about $270 million in Michigan, creating 765 jobs and generating more than $160 million in economic activity.

When asked if she feels the backlash is unfair, Anderson-Vincent replied, "People are very passionate about water, and so are we. We respect that passion."

Case, meanwhile, said, "Nestlé does not own this water. This water belongs to the people and the ecosystem."

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