It was known shortly after Los Angeles County referred the Domestic Violence complaint against Michael Avenatti to the City Attorney for misdemeanor charges that it was…

How do I put this? The allegation is that he screamed at her and called her names and struck her with a pillow and threw her out on the street resulting in scrapes, scratches, and bruises. That kind of behavior is definitely not cool and the screaming and name calling amount to verbal assault (which can be charged) if proven. Michael Avenatti is probably no avatar of Gentlemanly behavior.

The allegations that concerned me were the ones about his messing with the trust accounts containing the money people donated to Stephanie Clifford.

I knew a lawyer like that. He was Capo of my local and a nice guy mostly. He was heavily leveraged in Real Estate and needed to make a payment so he dipped into an account to cover it and later replaced the money.

No harm, no foul right?

Not if you’re an Attorney. He lost his license, got fined Hundreds of Thousands, and went to jail for 2 years (reduced to 6 months for good behavior, he did replace the money after all). He got hard time because he was single and the Judge wanted to make an example, lots of people walk away with just a fine.

My DJ buddy got asked to be a character witness so they had a visit and my buddy said- “This will be easy. I’ll tell them about all the times you bought Rolexes for the members and bailed out the Local financially.”

Hah! Just kidding. He never did that and my buddy played it straight. He still went to jail though.

Recently we find the dispute between Stephanie and Michael has been resolved.

Avenatti back in court on behalf of Stormy Daniels
By Eli Watkins and Sara Sidner, CNN
Mon December 3, 2018

The Los Angeles district attorney declined to charge him with a felony but sent the case to the city attorney’s office, where misdemeanor charges are still being considered in the case.

Just before Avenatti was scheduled back in court to take on part of the case against Trump that made both him and Daniels household names, Daniels publicly criticized Avenatti last week over his treatment of her and her finances.

Daniels told The Daily Beast that Avenatti filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump against her wishes. That lawsuit was filed after Trump used Twitter to mock Daniels about a man she said had threatened her in a parking lot to make sure she stayed silent about the affair she said she had with Trump more than a decade ago.

Daniels said she was not told that suit was going to be filed. She also complained that Avenatti had not given her an accounting she had demanded of how more than half a million dollars collected on a crowdfunding site for her legal defense was being spent.

Avenatti said her statements took him by surprise.

I have always been an open book with Stormy as to all aspects of her cases and she knows that. You need only look back at her numerous prior interviews where she states we talk and communicate multiple times every day about her cases,” Avenatti said in a statement to CNN.

He also pointed out that the defamation case was filed in April and if Daniels was unhappy with it, he could have dropped the suit. They didn’t, and Daniels lost. Otero determined that the President’s language was simply hyperbole and within his First Amendment rights.

On Sunday, Daniels seemingly reversed course, tweeting, “Pleased that Michael and I have sorted s**t out and we know the accounting is on the up and up. We are going to kick ass together on two coasts tomorrow.”

She elaborated during an appearance in Washington on Monday evening, saying Avenatti had shown her an accounting for the money.

“I just started having people ask me where the money went, was it going to be used to pay Trump, was there money left over, and I feel like people who gave me money deserve to know where it went. Because it’s so kind and generous for all these people to do this for me, and I am not a thief,” she said.

“So I just kept asking for accounting and I couldn’t get it. You know, the money, he was suppose to … the security is paid out of that and it just became difficult to get some monies.”

But, she added, “he sent me the accounting and it looks good.”

Avenatti said on Monday that there were “no issues between Stormy and I.”

Avenatti still has blood in his eye for Michael Cohen however-

Avenatti has sought to depose Cohen early as part of the suit against him and Davidson. The judge hearing the suit denied the request on Monday, citing staffing reasons and saying the deposition would have to wait until after Cohen is sentenced in federal court, and stayed Daniels’ case against Davidson and Cohen.

In a sentencing memo filed late Friday night, Cohen’s lawyers argued for his sentence to include no prison time, following his guilty pleas. Trump has disavowed Cohen and called on Monday for him to receive “a full and complete sentence.”

Speaking to reporters outside of court Monday morning, Avenatti said he and Daniels hoped that Cohen is sentenced to maximum prison time.

“My client and I hope that he is sentenced to the absolute maximum federal penitentiary time,” Avenatti said.

He also tweeted shortly after the appearance, saying, “It will be interesting next Wednesday to see if Michael Cohen is immediately taken into custody to begin serving a lengthy prison sentence for his multiple federal felonies. The judge is not a push over and will likely appreciate that he can cooperate with Mueller from prison.”

Did I mention the best Attorney I know is also the biggest asshole I ever met?

Update: Today Avenatti announced that he would not seek the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination, citing family reasons.

Season Appropriate

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

Associated Press Correspondent Terry Anderson is released from captivity; American troops head to Somalia; General George Washington says farewell to his officers in New York; Frank Zappa dies.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

Thomas Jefferson

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Theresa May’s Brexit deal goes before Parliament a week after tomorrow and nothing is getting any better for her. The EU is saying this is the last, best deal and the only alternative is a No Deal exit to scare Members of Parliament into voting in favor.

Needless to say this naked and empty threat is decidedly not moving pro-Brexit Tories in May’s direction.

Empty? Oh my yes. There’s always that chance that Britain could change it’s mind and stay (looking better and better considering the alternatives) and supposedly that’s always been the EU’s preferred solution. No hard feelings (Hah!).

The Democratic Unionist Party, May’s coalition partners, have already said they’ll vote against the deal and against May in the Confidence Vote that is sure to follow failure. The lingering remnants of the Liberals have always been against Brexit, the Scottish National Party has always been against Brexit, Labour is split (there’s a Left case to make) in theory but will surely vote ‘No’ unanimously to force a General Election they will almost surely win decisively.

The likelihood of a Labour win is in fact the only card May has to play and it’s a very weak one that doesn’t do the job anyway. Conservatives are a minority government and even if they maintain 100% discipline with no defections can not carry the day.

So May is out, Snap Election, Labour Government and then what?

I still consider it likely the EU will relent and grant an extention on the March 29th 2019 deadline in order to allow the electoral process to finish. Corbyn led Labour is committed to a Second Referendum that will almost certainly result in a ‘Stay’ verdict now that the consequences of ‘Leave’ are clear and proximate.

And we get a Left Labour Government where the Tory-lite Neo Liberal Blairite Quislings are cowed if not banished.

What’s not to like?

I suppose I should mention the latest kerfluffle is May refused to release the full legal evaluation to Parliament which only increases the level of resentment. Going down in flames.

A general election could be on the way after DUP threatens to bring down Theresa May
by Adam Payne, Business Insider
12/3/18

A snap general election could be on its way after the Democratic Unionist Party, which props up Theresa May’s government, threatened to trigger a general election in order to kill her Brexit divorce deal.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News on Sunday it was “inevitable” that Labour would move a no confidence motion in May’s government if MPs vote down her deal on Tuesday, December 11.

Now the DUP is preparing to withdraw its support for the prime minister in such a vote if, as expected, MPs vote to reject her Brexit deal next week, according to The Times.

In this scenario, May would be without the thin parliamentary advantage she’s had since the 2017 general election and at risk of a majority of MPs voting to get rid of her. For the DUP, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour winning a possible subsequent election is more palatable than the deal which May has agreed with the EU, the report suggests.

The DUP loathes the Withdrawal Agreement because under the backstop proposal for avoiding a hard Irish border, Northern Ireland would stick to parts of the single market, creating new border checks with rest of the UK.

The party, that has 10 MPs in Westminster, has already abstained on a number of parliamentary votes in recent weeks in a warning to the prime minister that they are not bluffing about their threats to abandon her.

An increasingly restless DUP is just one thing for May to worry about this week.

On Tuesday, a five-day debate on her Brexit deal will get underway prior to the meaningful vote next week. MPs from all sides are set to chastise her deal with some estimates suggesting a landslide defeat of over 100 MPs.

Today the prime minister will resume her efforts to sell the deal, telling MPs about her visit to the G20 summit in Argentina over the weekend and the free trade deals the UK will be able to sign around the world after Brexit.

“For the first time in more than 40 years we will have an independent trade policy,” she will tell MPs.

Exactly how “independent” the UK’s trade policy will be after Brexit is just one of the concerns among pro-Brexit MPs. Under the backstop, the UK will be in a customs union with the EU, meaning its trading ability will be limited.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will today reveal to MPs at least some of the legal advice he has given to the government about the controversial backstop policy, including what it would mean for the UK’s trade policy.

MPs are particularly concerned about the backstop element of May’s deal because it would keep the UK in a customs union with the EU after Brexit indefinitely, with no fixed end date or unilateral right to get out of it.

However, Cox is not set to disclose his legal advice in full, despite the government seemingly agreeing to do so last month. Labour has threatened to join forces with other opposition parties, including the DUP, and write to Commons Speaker John Bercow accusing the government of contempt of Parliament if it doesn’t publish the advice in full.

November 27th Stephen Colbert ran a show where he took the role of the guest and had guest hosts in to interview him.

I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to put it up but last weel was extremely busy.

Jon Stewart Part 1

Jon Stewart Part 2

Jon Stewart Part 3

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Everybody Else

My verdict? As a piece of conceptual art it’s interesting if not particularly novel except in length. Like everything else it has it’s highs and lows, during the Everbody Else segment they demonstrate that good interveiwing is not a trivial skill (Jon Stewart for instance is notoriously bad at it though not necessarily in this case).

General Mud and General Winter

Well, it’s interesting to me. While I’m not limited to Modern European (and American, both Continents and the middle part) History, that doesn’t mean I’m not grounded in it.

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:00am (ET) (or whenever we get around to it) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

First human heart transplant performed; Industrial accident kills thousands in Bhopal, India; Hundreds of students arrested at the University of California at Berkeley; “A Streetcar Named Desire” opens on Broadway; Snger Ozzy Osbourne is born.

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.

Robert Frost

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Cody Johnston

Misdemeanor Harassment

Too ranty for TV but not for me.

This week was kind of an SCTV Tribute.

I prefer Presidents who don’t get indicted

In Cars

Total Netflix Domination

Mika, Blink Twice

Staten Island Cable

Full Body Slim Suits

Texting

Getting Busy

Weekend Update

Ugh. ek’smas already?