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Politically connected sex offender Jeffrey Epstein settles suit, averting victim testimony

A last-minute settlement has been reached in Florida in a long-running lawsuit involving a politically connected financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls.

The deal came Tuesday just before jury selection was to begin, and for now, it means none of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein will be able to testify.

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A last-minute settlement was reached Tuesday in a long-running Florida lawsuit involving a politically connected financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls, clearing the way for the victims’ lawyers to try to unravel a once-secret agreement that prevented federal criminal prosecution of the financier.

[...] Epstein could have faced a possible life sentence if federal prosecutors had pursued a draft 57-page indictment that was never filed. Now, Scarola and Edwards say that possibility still exists, and the victims — some of whom were only 13 or 14 when they were molested — may yet get their day in federal court amid a national #metoo movement that seeks to hold sexual harassers and abusers to account.

[...] The settlement reached Tuesday involved a lawsuit Epstein filed against Edwards almost a decade ago. Edwards filed a counterclaim, contending that Epstein sued him maliciously, trying to harm Edwards’ reputation and derail his work with Epstein’s own abuse victims.

Jeffrey Epstein apology deprives accusers of day in court

Until his disgrace, Epstein rubbed shoulders with the likes of former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew.

The money manager - the subject of a bombshell Miami Herald investigation last week - was accused of trafficking some 40 teenage girls.

Epstein eventually agreed a plea deal widely seen as extraordinarily lenient. His accusers never got the chance to testify.

The prosecutor criticised for letting Epstein off the hook was Alexander Acosta, who is now labour secretary in the Trump administration.

Lawmakers call for investigation into Labor Secretary Acosta for sex offender plea deal

The lawmakers, which include 10 representatives from Florida, are asking the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General to investigate the "circumstances" surrounding the nonprosecution agreement Acosta entered into with Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy Florida investor who was convicted on two counts of prostitution in 2007.

A new Miami Herald investigation provides details into the deal Acosta and Epstein struck after Epstein was accused of sexually abusing dozens of young girls, many of whom were minors. Epstein was facing a life sentence in federal prison but only served 13 months in county jail as a result of the plea deal with Acosta.

Navy Admiral Scott Stearney Is Found Dead in Bahrain Home

The admiral overseeing American naval operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia was found dead in Bahrain on Saturday, the Navy said.

[...] Admiral Stearney, 58, took charge in May of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as well as a broader naval coalition there that includes more than 20,000 United States and allied maritime forces.

[...] The American-led naval forces play an important role in safeguarding such vital regional waterways as the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. In recent years, the naval forces have confronted threats including marauding pirates, harassing Iranian revolutionary guard attack boats, weapons smugglers, and Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen firing missiles at commercial ships.

Senior U.S. admiral found dead in Bahrain, no foul play suspected

Top Navy admiral was found dead in 'apparent suicide'

Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, the Navy’s top officer overseeing forces in the Middle East, died Saturday in what defense officials now call an “apparent suicide," CBS News reports.

In more Trump corruption news:

President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty Thursday in New York to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate project that Trump and his company pursued at the same time he was running for president.

In a nine-page filing, prosecutors laid out a litany of lies that Cohen admitted he told to congressional lawmakers about the Moscow project — an attempt, Cohen said, to minimize links between the proposed development and Trump as his presidential bid was well underway.

As part of Cohen’s plea, he admitted to falsely claiming that efforts to build a Trump-branded tower in Moscow ended in January 2016, when in fact discussions continued through June of that year, the filing said. Among the people Cohen briefed on the status of the project was Trump himself, on more than three occasions, according to the document.

Trump has repeatedly said that he had no business dealings in Russia, tweeting in July 2016, “For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia,” and telling reporters in January 2017 that he had no deals there because he had “stayed away.”

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Moscow project

NASA Will Announce Its 1st Commercial Partners for the Return to the Moon Thursday

The selected companies will be revealed Thursday (Nov. 29) during a news conference held at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will lead the news conference. The event will begin at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT); you can watch it live on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV, or directly at the agency's website.

I'll do a sub on it later. Check out the live news conference if you can.

‘Cowboy Bebop’ Live-Action Series Lands at Netflix

The series, which hails from Tomorrow Studios, has been in the works since last year. Netflix has ordered 10 episodes.

Shinichiro Watanabe, director of the original anime, will serve as a consultant on the project. Christopher Yost, who previously penned “Thor: The Dark World” and “Thor: Ragnarok”, will write the first episode and executive produce. Andre Nemec, Josh Appelbaum, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg of Midnight Radio will serve as executive producers. Yasuo Miyakawa, Masayuki Ozaki, and Shin Sasaki of Sunrise Inc.– the studio behind the original series–will also executive produce along with Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios, Tetsu Fujimura, and Matthew Weinberg. The series is a co-production between Netflix and Tomorrow Studios, with Netflix handling physical production.

The track record for adaptations of anime is not great. Another classic about to be sullied by Netflix?

On a side note, Variety.com has three separate posts about Finland offering incentives to film and TV productions. I guess Variety was offered an incentive, too.

Nubia's latest gaming phone comes with up to 10GB of RAM

Nubia Red Magic Mars announced: Snapdragon 845, 10GB RAM, and shoulder triggers

Not sure if I want to do another submission about a 10 GB of RAM "gaming smartphone". Although it could be amusing.

Previously: 4 Gallon Kimchi Ferment

I took it out on the 26th, so about 15 days of fermentation.

This version of the recipe had just 25% of the crushed red pepper I normally use. The resulting taste was much milder, but still satisfying, and still tasted like kimchi rather than sauerkraut or something. You get a more noticeable ginger taste this way.

The biggest disappointment may have been the radishes. By becoming soggy, they lost the crisp crunchiness they had at the start. This should have been obvious but I wasn't thinking about it. They became less spicy, which may be a plus for some. There have been kimchis made primarily of radishes for centuries, so it's not coming out of left field as an ingredient. I cut my red (Cherry Belle?) radishes into thin circular slices rather than cube chunks as seen in the linked recipe.

Rather than the 4 gallons I was expecting, I made just over 3 gallons, filling about 12.5-13 quart jars. I used a slotted spoon to get the veggies in the jars, and then put each jar in the sink so I could pour liquid from the bucket into it. Some minor gas buildup was already evident when I sealed and opened some of the jars. I'd like for it to develop that tangy carbonation I got in the old storebought kimchi, so some of these will be sitting around in the fridge for a long while.

I didn't see any signs of bubbling in the airlock, maybe because the bucket was only just over half full, or because the lactobacillus fermentation process is much slower than say, yeast + beer. I think the airlock may have helped in getting a consistent flavor with less "funk". It also prevented the smell from escaping into the room, until I opened the bucket.

I didn't write down the cost of materials but it was probably in the neighborhood of $15, or $30 counting reusable supplies, to make the equivalent of maybe $150-300 worth of kimchi. It should be able to stay good in the fridge for up to 6 months, possibly longer. I'll agree with the AC that says it's a waste of time to make bread. You are competing with impeccably baked artisan loaves in the $1-3 range (less for clearance bread). Kimchi or sauerkraut? You can easily beat it on price. Time spent making it isn't too bad (worse for kimchi than sauerkraut since I had to cut up a lot of stuff and soaked cabbage for a while). Simplify the steps for saeurkraut and you can start some in under half an hour. And you can put it on your meat and potatoes.

If any of you decided to make some, or buy some, I'd like to hear how it turned out.

Yet another Trump Campaign staffer reports to prison today.

Most corrupt administration ever.

Papadopoulos ordered to jail Monday

American Exorcism

Priests are fielding more requests than ever for help with demonic possession, and a centuries-old practice is finding new footing in the modern world.

Someone apparently hacked Drake’s Fortnite account and used racial slurs on a charity live-stream

Ninja plays Fortnite with fake Drake after Drake's account is hacked - hacker gets racist on stream

The account 'Duddus647' randomly joined Ninja's game while he was doing a charity livestream to raise money for the Ellen Fund, in collaboration with the Ellen show.

Believing that it was in fact Drake, Ninja attempted to text the rapper, saying "I'm not sure if Drake meant to invite me?" - before jumping into a game.

With the Drake account completely silent at first, Ninja began to play as normal, assuming that the star was maybe just setting up his microphone and audio.

Things seemed perfectly normal (if one of the most famous people in the world randomly joining your game of Fortnite can ever be considered 'normal'), and Ninja quickly got to taking out opponents.

Suddenly however, "Drake" broke his silence, except of course it wasn't Drake at all, but rather a hacker who had gained access to the account - and began saying the N-word repeatedly.

Drake (musician)

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) known mononymously as Drake, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. His rapping ability has been noted as "polarizing", and has contributed to him being named one of the most divisive rappers of his generation by multiple critics and media publications. Drake initially gained recognition as an actor on the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation in the early 2000s.

[...] Drake holds several Billboard chart records. He has the most charted songs (186) among solo artists in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the most simultaneously charted Hot 100 songs in a single week (27), the most time on the Hot 100 (431 weeks) and the most Hot 100 debuts in a week (22). He also has the most number one singles on the Hot Rap Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Rhythmic Charts. Drake has also won three Juno Awards, six American Music Awards, and fifteen Billboard Music Awards. He is the RIAA's top certified digital singles artist and one of the world's best-selling music artists, with more than 95 million records sold globally.

Hillary Clinton calls on Europe to curb migration to halt populists

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling on European leaders to enact stricter immigration policies in order to counter the growing threat of right-wing populism on the continent.

“I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame,” Clinton told The Guardian in an interview published Thursday, referring to the rise of anti-immigrant politicians across Europe.

“I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel," she said, "but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message — ‘we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support’ — because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic.”

#HillaryGraduatedFromBeingAnNPCBoss :^)

American Is Killed by Bow and Arrow on Remote Indian Island

John Allen Chau had dreamed of returning to the Andaman Islands.

Mr. Chau, an American thought to be in his 20s, was fulfilling that dream last week when he set off by kayak for a remote island inhabited by a tribe whose members have killed outsiders for simply stepping on their shore.

Fishermen warned him not to go. Few outsiders had ever been there. And Indian government regulations clearly prohibited any interaction with people on the island, called North Sentinel.

But Mr. Chau pushed ahead in his kayak, which he had packed with a Bible. After that, it is a bit of a mystery what happened.

But the police say one thing is clear: Mr. Chau did not survive.

Also at NPR.