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A jury has found former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort guilty after a three-week trial on tax and bank fraud charges — a major if not complete victory for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III as he continues to investigate the president’s associates.

The jury convicted Manafort on eight of the 18 counts against him. The jury said it was deadlocked on the other 10. U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on those other charges.

Manafort was convicted on five counts of filing false tax returns, one count of not filing a required IRS form, and two bank fraud counts.

Manafort convicted of 8 counts, judge will declare mistrial in 10 others

President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has surrendered to the FBI in New York as he prepares to plead guilty Tuesday afternoon in an investigation into his activities and business dealings, according to people familiar with the matter.

Cohen is expected to plead guilty to charges related to bank fraud, tax fraud and a campaign finance violation, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Cohen agreed to the deal after prosecutors claimed he risked more than a dozen years in prison, one person said.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday at a federal courthouse in Manhattan. Afterward, Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami, who has been overseeing the probe, is scheduled to make public remarks.

The plea discussions follow a months-long grand-jury investigation into Cohen’s activities, including his taxi business, as well as a hush-money payment that Cohen arranged to an adult-film actress, Stormy Daniels, who claimed to have had a tryst with Trump years ago.

Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen has surrendered to FBI as he prepares to plead guilty in federal investigation

Asia Argento, a #MeToo Leader, Made a Deal With Her Own Accuser (archive)

The Italian actress and director Asia Argento was among the first women in the movie business to publicly accuse the producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. She became a leading figure in the #MeToo movement. Her boyfriend, the culinary television star Anthony Bourdain, eagerly joined the fight.

But in the months that followed her revelations about Mr. Weinstein last October, Ms. Argento quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to her own accuser: Jimmy Bennett, a young actor and rock musician who said she had sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room years earlier, when he was only two months past his 17th birthday. She was 37. The age of consent in California is 18.

That claim and the subsequent arrangement for payments are laid out in documents between lawyers for Ms. Argento and Mr. Bennett, a former child actor who once played her son in a movie.

The documents, which were sent to The New York Times through encrypted email by an unidentified party, include a selfie dated May 9, 2013, of the two lying in bed. As part of the agreement, Mr. Bennett, who is now 22, gave the photograph and its copyright to Ms. Argento, now 42. Three people familiar with the case said the documents were authentic.

And here are the gruesome details:

[...] The fallout from “a sexual battery” was so traumatic that it hindered Mr. Bennett’s work and income and threatened his mental health, according to a notice of intent to sue that his lawyer sent in November to Richard Hofstetter, Mr. Bourdain’s longtime lawyer, who was also representing Ms. Argento at the time.

[...] Mr. Bennett, who has an eye condition that prevents him from driving, arrived at Ms. Argento’s hotel room that morning with a family member, according to his notice of intent. The document lays out Mr. Bennett’s account: Ms. Argento asked the family member to leave so she could be alone with the actor. She gave him alcohol to drink and showed him a series of notes she had written to him on hotel stationery. Then she kissed him, pushed him back on the bed, removed his pants and performed oral sex. She climbed on top of him and the two had intercourse, the document says. She then asked him to take a number of photos.

[...] The two had lunch, and Mr. Bennett headed home to Orange County, where he lived with his parents. As he was driven home, according to his claim, he began to feel “extremely confused, mortified, and disgusted.” But a month later, on June 8, he sent Ms. Argento a Twitter message, “Miss you momma!!!!” that included a photograph of an engraved bracelet she had given him to commemorate the movie. (His Twitter account has recently been shut down.)

[...] Mr. Bennett claimed his parents had barred him from the family’s house and kept his possessions, and over the years had cheated him out of at least $1.5 million in earnings. He said he was broke and two months behind on his rent. The case was settled in December 2014, but the terms were not disclosed.

Sounds like a 17-year-old had a good time, but went through some money issues when he turned 18 due to his manipulative stage parents (who clearly didn't care about leaving him in a hotel room with a total MILF, since they drove him to and from there). Argento had been getting a lot more attention due to recounting her involvement with Weinstein, and he had the evidence needed to blackmail her and make the rent. Sound about right? Now switch the genders. Oh no!

Bennett had starred with Argento in The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) when he was about 8 and she was about 28. She also directed and co-wrote the movie:

That sounds like an interesting picture show!

Her boyfriend, the culinary television star Anthony Bourdain, eagerly joined the fight.

I wonder if Bourdain knew about the Argento-Bennett thing (which did happen before they met AFAIK):

Asia Argento Says Anthony Bourdain’s Suicide 'Obsession' Is 'Heart Wrenching:' 'I Never Knew'

Asia Argento has spoken out about an article compiling a list of times her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain publicly brought up committing suicide before his death, calling it a “heart wrenching read.” “I never knew about this obsession of his. He never told me,” she wrote on social media, sharing a link to the document, which was released earlier this month.

Even if the Bennett incident had nothing to do with him, he did go to bat for her publicly over Weinstein, including describing how he fantasized about Weinstein dying of a stroke in a bathtub while nobody would take his call. And here's a related quote from one of his final interviews:

Acknowledging that Clinton is "f**king magnetic," having met him in person, Bourdain revealed that he does not believe Clinton should have been thrown out of office because of the Lewinsky scandal - calling it "ridiculous." According to Bourdain, the real issue was the way that the Clintons dealt with the scandal - "It was the shaming, discrediting, undermining the women," that followed.

If only the women always discredited and undermined themselves. It would make marginalizing them so much easier!

Well, too little, too late for Weinstein. He was just too greedy.

The documents, which were sent to The New York Times through encrypted email by an unidentified party

Looks like NYT is getting some mileage from its leak submission page.

Also at The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, and Vanity Fair.

"If you're not sleeping, it's an emergency."
    -- Psychiatrist Darryl Chagi MD, Soquel, California 1997

• Thread I started when I got to the ER with The Cruel Shoes of a Bluetooth keyboard and a browser that's a Tool Of The Devil

I stayed up quite a lot longer than I really had any reason to be
awake. At ten last night decided to buy some ice cream at the corner
store but didn't check for my keys before I shut my apartment door
behind me. Happily I realized the problem before walking out the door
at the bottom of the stairs, left it unlocked, quickly went to the
store, bought a can of Campbells Chunky Soup then right back.

The landing at the top of the stairs is big enough to stretch out on
so I figured I'd be OK until I could get my apartment manager to help
me climb into my bedroom window this morning. Eventually realized
that I wasn't sleeping because my Happy Pills were inside the
apartment.

Had no cash for a cab, busses not running this late. Dialed 9-1-1, as
I attempted to speak to the dispatcher I realized I wasn't just wide
awake but actually Manic. Another day of that and you'll need
butterfly nets and tranquilizer rifles to stop me from lighting up the
whole town with my contagious enthusiasm.

Ambulance comes, took me to a very small ER in Salmon Creek called
Legacy. I'd been there before, figured they'd get me the right kinds
of meds then have a sort of "Wingnut Limousine" - really a Buick but
with a bulletproof window between the front and the back - to a mental
hospital that I'd been in before, Telecare at the VA Medical Center in
Vancouver in the back of the building immediately opposite the lobby
in front.

I made plain to the entire ER staff that I could not _possibly_ sleep
until they gave me Elavil but it was only around 3:30 that I realized
they'd overlooked it. They did gave me a fast-acting Zyprexa tablet
that I dissolved under my tongue. While that stopped the onrushing
Mania, without the Elavil I would have no hope whatsoever of sleeping
so it would not be long at all before I was Manic again.

Elavil (amitryptiline) is an antidepressant which I no longer need but
it's _highly_ sedating so one must gradually increase one's dose at
first to build up a tolerance to the sedation, then after one is sure
the depression won't return, taper back off of it over a period of two
or three weeks. To stop suddenly and I simply _cannot_ sleep until I
can take some again. Three days awake and I'm hallucinating. Five
days awake I'm hallucinating so hard I can't see where I'm going when
I try to walk.

They discharged me with a taxi voucher. In the lobby waiting my cab
to arrive, realize I was having vivid visual hallucinations, got
readmitted to the ER, apologized for not having been more clear I need
_Elavil_ too.

The ER doc who gave me the Zyprexa had just gone home so they assigned
me a new doc. Waited a couple hours, he went home too. Third doc
shows up while generally friendly he was quite argumentative. I was
unable to make him understand that I really _did_ need to be in a
mental hospital. _Nothing_ the ER could possibly do would make enough
of a difference.

He agreed to prescribe my Elavil.

I was able to listen to YouTube for another three hours but still
unable to sleep. At 9:30 finally got my Elavil but they never gave me
any food when I asked for it. To take Elavil on a totally empty
stomach is quite painful.

Five minutes later, nurse tells me my cab is here and I head home.

I Was A Piece Of Work when I got home but at least Bob agreed to park
his pickup under the awning over the front of the first floor.
Climbed on cab, onto awning, very easy to get into bedroom window.

I'm no longer Manic but also no longer sleepy. Many psychiatric meds
are toxic to your liver or your kidney so it's not safe to take
another dose of Elavil yet.

I'll make some pancakes, shower, shave then hang out at Taco Bell -
not for the food, rather the air conditioning, Internet, a restroom
and they'll be cool with just giving me a cup of ice water - until
5:00 or so then will take more Elavil and...

... Sleep The Sleep Of The Dead.

This gets really old sometimes. I Mean It Really Does.

Lucidly,

Michael David Crawford

I'm off for another week of lake visiting tomorrow afternoon Central. Camping with female companionship this time. I expect there to be more sex but less fishing than the last trip. So, mixed bag.

Start picking your interim targets of blame now to avoid the rush. If all else fails, try the ~blame command on IRC.

Expanding on this comment.

What should be done with the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G) or another brand-new low-Earth orbit space station? Alternatively, can the ISS be rebuilt piece-by-piece to allay concerns about aging components? Or should it be burnt in the atmosphere or split up to form new stations?

LOP-G is a boondoggle by design, but it could be built much more cheaply using Falcon Heavy launches, and it could be given some worthwhile missions and experiments. Here are a few ideas:

Space telescopes

Space telescopes could be assembled and repaired at a space station. JWST's cost overruns and delays are going to cast a shadow over future flagship space telescopes. One way to reduce costs massively while continuing to provide larger apertures would be to assemble a telescope in orbit. In the future, robots or automated docking systems ought to be able to accomplish this, but if you already have humans staying at a space station, why not have them service telescopes while they're there?

JWST has to ride a single rocket into space and follow a number of steps for successful deployment. A telescope built at a space station could accept many components flown on multiple Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, BFR, New Glenn, or Vulcan rockets. If one rocket explodes, the loss is relatively minor. The size of a space telescope flown on a single rocket is limited by the width and volume of the payload fairing. JWST can unfold its mirror segments to fit a greater aperture into the payload fairing, but this mechanical mechanism could fail, and if it does, it would render the telescope completely inoperable. The planned JWST successor LUVOIR has different configurations depending on whether or not SLS (8.4-10 meters) or BFR (9 meters) will be available to fly the telescope. While you could fly as many smaller mirror segments as you wanted to if you kept adding new launches to your manifest, the largest mirror segments ever cast are coincidentally 8.4 meters in diameter:

There is a technological limit for primary mirrors made of a single rigid piece of glass. Such non-segmented, or monolithic mirrors can not be constructed larger than about eight meters in diameter. The largest monolithic mirror in use are currently the two primary mirrors of the Large Binocular Telescope, each with a diameter of 8.4 meters. The use of segmented mirrors is therefore a key component for large-aperture telescopes. Using a monolithic mirror much larger than 5 meters is prohibitively expensive due to the cost of both the mirror, and the massive structure needed to support it. A mirror beyond that size would also sag slightly under its own weight as the telescope was rotated to different positions, changing the precision shape of the surface. Segments are also easier to fabricate, transport, install, and maintain over very large monolithic mirrors.

Segmented mirrors do have the drawback that each segment may require some precise asymmetrical shape, and rely on a complicated computer-controlled mounting system. All of the segments also cause diffraction effects in the final image.

Finally, JWST requires lots of testing and retesting in order to ensure that the hundreds of potential failures that could kill the mission do not occur. With a space-assembled telescope, you could launch without doing nearly as much testing, since you would have humans capable of fixing most of the problems that could happen, multiple launches instead of a single launch, and you could more readily tolerate the vibrations shaking up each component of the telescope, since it is not assembled and ready to deploy yet. You could also pack the payload fairing with padding that could be removed by the astronauts.

While there could be space telescopes operating directly at the site of the space station (such as in lunar orbit alongside the LOP-G) or close nearby (loosely tethered to the station or in a different but easy-to-reach orbit), we could also use orbital (re)fueling to send completed space telescopes to their final destinations. Since most of the energy expenditure comes from entering or leaving Earth orbit, this could end up being very efficient.

By exploiting all of these advantages, we could assemble space telescopes that dwarf the JWST and LUVOIR in size and capabilities.

Artificial gravity modules

We already know that prolonged exposure to microgravity is bad news for astronauts, but at least one of our ACs is very skeptical of the health effects of lunar or Martian gravity on the human body. What better way to test this than in a rotating artificial gravity module? While it is not directly comparable to the gravity of a planetoid, and you can experience a difference in acceleration between your head and toes, it could be used for exercise, sleep, animal and plant experiments, etc.

The lower the gravity you want to simulate, the smaller and slower the module can be. So simulating 0.165g or 0.376g will be cheaper than 1g anyway.

The Nautilus-X was a proposed spacecraft that would have used a centrifuge to provide artificial gravity. A demonstration module for the ISS would have cost only an estimated $83 million to $143 million, not counting launch costs.

Inflatable modules

Speaking of modules, Nautilus-X planned to make extensive use of Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable modules. Inflatable modules are a partially-proven concept, in that we actually managed to get one version, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, to the ISS. Plans to remove it have been delayed as it provides useful storage space and appears to resist radiation and micrometeorites as well as other parts of the ISS.

The B330 and BA 2100 modules would provide a much greater volume for a space station, with the BA 2100 providing more than double the current volume of the ISS inside of a single module. As for protection:

• Some designs offer higher resistance to space debris. For example, the B330 provides ballistic protection superior to traditional aluminum shell designs.
• Some designs provide higher levels of shielding against radiation. For example, the B330 provides radiation protection equivalent to or better than the International Space Station, "and substantially reduces the dangerous impact of secondary radiation."

I imagine that if you had further concerns about module durability, you could inflate it and then install plates or other coverings on the outside to provide additional layers of protection from radiation and micrometeorites.

Propellant depot

I haven't done the math™ on this one at all, but perhaps this could make sense, particularly in the LOP-G scenario. If you want LOP-G to be more than a useless ISS clone, it would make sense to have the station facilitate trips to the surface, by storing propellant, refueling craft that reach the station, or delivering it to the surface for use by people who are already there. How would it get there? A BFR tanker would be a good choice. Where would it come from? Presumably from Earth or sources of water on the Moon itself, if the economics work out.

Perhaps the U.S. could sell China some propellant to help them build their Moon base.

Depending on the orbit, LOP-G could also facilitate communications for anybody or anything on the far side of the Moon.

Mrs Turgid and I went for a holiday in the USA this year. I've never been before, but she has, since she has an aunt who lives in Portland, Oregon.

Since we were going to the USA, I decided that we really must visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the way, so we flew from London to Orlando via Dublin. The most stressful part of the trip was Dublin airport. You have to collect your boarding pass for the second leg of the flight in the airport and they're pretty laid back at the desk in spite of schedules and deadlines. Then you have to go through US immigration. That wouldn't be so bad if you hadn't waited an age to get your boarding pass.

I was lucky and got selected for extra security. Oh boy, did I get security. Luckily the fellow doing it was very jolly and Mrs Turgid remarked that he was now on more intimate terms with me than she was.

The immigration officer was very efficient and being an idiot and tired and flustered I forgot what day I was leaving the USA which did not impress him very much. When going to the USA the immigration officers are mostly interested in how and when you will be leaving the USA. Remember that to make your immigration experience as painless and quick as possible.

On the flight, as we landed I got an interesting earworm, "Living With a Hernia" by Weird Al. The first song on the radio in the taxi on the way from the airport to the hotel in Orlando was "Living In America!" Spooky?

The Kennedy Space Center was the coolest thing I have ever seen and I saw two alligators. We had lunch with an astronaut! That was a very pleasant surprise that Mrs Turgid had arranged. We saw space shuttle Atlantis and we did weep. We also had a long bus tour of the site, including many launch pads. We saw the VAB and pads 39A and 39B. I also noticed a building which said on the side "Home of the X37-B." The tour guide didn't mention that.

After the tours we wandered round until we saw the Saturn V. Now I can die a happy man.

After three nights in Orlando (which was very hot and humid, but with plentiful and cheap food) we went via Atlanta to Portland, Oregon to stay with auntie and her husband. Oregon, and the Pacific Northwest, is beautiful. On the plane we saw Mount Hood, Mt Ranier and Mt St Helens.

Portland is a lovely place, and Oregon is full of Pentiums such as Willamette, Yamhill, Deschutes, you name it. They also make lots of very excellent wine and beer. There are lagers, wheat beers, amber ales, stouts, porters... and they all taste of something good. The food's great too. I made the mistake of ordering side orders in the pub. There was enough to feed a family of four.

We went to the beach at Lincoln City for a few nights. I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean and it was cold (Scotland cold).

On the way back from Lincoln City we stopped at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum where I saw the Spruce Goose, an SR-71B, X-15, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo 16, V1, V2, Goddard's rocket, all kinds of weird helicopters...

We drove along the Columbia river, went to Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood, went to Multnomah Falls, went into Washington State etc.

Mrs Turgid and I also went to Seattle by train for a couple of nights. I know people like to berate American trains, but by modern British standards they are sheer luxury.

Seattle is pretty cool. We stayed in a hotel near the Space Needle and very close by was a pub called the Teku Tavern which had hundreds of kinds of excellent beers and ciders. We went on a tour about the old town called Beneath the Streets. We also found a really cool shop called Utilikilts which is a gentlemen's outfitters specialising in kilts for the physically active and strident working man. Unfortunately I did not have enough money left to buy a Utilikilt, having just bought a laptop. They don't seem to have invented the Buiness Kilt yet. I think I might send them an email.

We didn't go up the Space Needle, but we went up the Smith Tower, which made me seasick and I had to take a pint of ale to steady my nerves.

There was also a long-haired dude wearing a bandana driving a Pontiac Firebird with the roof off, with tiger skin seat covers and loud music.

Conclusion: American beer is good, American food is not too bad if you choose wisely, the weather's hot, sometimes hot and humid, and no one tried to shoot me. And they went to the Moon, in peace, for all mankind.

As they say in Portland, Oregon, "In our America love wins."

A Long-Lost Marilyn Monroe Nude Scene Was Just Discovered

It’s taken decades, but researchers have finally found Marilyn Monroe‘s long-lost nude scene from the 1961 film The Misfits. [...] In the lost scene, Monroe and Clark Gable kiss, and he leaves. Then, things get particularly racy when Monroe drops the bedsheet covering her naked body. According to Deadline, this scene is historic: if left in the film, it would have been the first nude scene by an American actress in a major motion picture. Director John Huston later cut the nude scene because he believed that it wasn’t necessary to the story, but Frank Taylor saved the footage because of its importance (or maybe for, uh, personal reasons).

[...] Taylor has not yet decided what to do with the lost footage, so don’t expect Monroe’s nude scene to end up on YouTube any time soon.

Submit it to the Library of Sexual Congress for "preservation" or GTFO.

The brilliant motherfuckers over at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany have gotten their science on and done up a paper stating in part that crazy bitches are better in the sack. Thanks a bunch there, folks. Think you could do up a study on whether guys like to look at boobs next?

This has been...a busy week. I've been transferred to the Madison branch of that bakery I started working for, and have spent the last couple of days preparing; I'm now staying in the absolute cheapest hotel I could find whose reviews contained zero instances of the word "bedbug."

A good friend I've mentioned before, Matt, lives in Madison and has been helping me find a place on short notice here. I haven't seen much of the city but I really, really like it compared to Milwaukee. The public transit is even better if you can believe that, people seem much more laid back, and there's lots of early 20th-century buildings near the Capitol that just exude history. It feels almost nostalgic, like a much smaller, nicer NYC in some ways. It's kind of appropriate we'd end up in the same city again considering we went to college together and, i found out then, grew up within a mile of one another.

Not for the first time I find myself thinking "if I were straight, or even the least little bit bisexual, we'd be married." Alas.

Anyway...what got me here? Bagels.

Now, as a born New Yorker, it makes sense I'd have a sort of innate affinity for bagel dough. The stuff just seems to like me, insofar as something that (I truly hope...) isn't sentient or alive in any way save for a bit of yeast can. First attempt at the dough came out feeling just perfect, and my particular method of putting holes in them--take dowel, punch hole in center of 5 oz. dough round, and more or less goatse it apart to around 2 inches, sorry for the mental image--works better than the "roll out a dough snake and pinch the ends" method.

In particular, the Capitol Square holds a farmer's market every Saturday, and people come from miles around and wait hours for specific products. I am told that my bagels have the potential to be one of them, along with a few of the other products the bakery makes. Despite there being at least 3 or 4 hipster-infested coffee shops within 2 blocks of the Capitol building, one of which has the word "bagels" in the name, apparently no one's thought of selling them at the Farmer's Market, which deserves both those capital letters.

Madison seems waaaaay more health-conscious than Milwaukee, so I'm going to try to get permission to make a whole-wheat version (with a pinch of vital gluten) and maybe some vegan bran muffins. Ground flaxseed and water in 1:3 ratio can replace eggs, 4 Tbsp. mix per egg, if you put a tiny bit more baking powder in. Autumn is coming too, which if this place is as hipsterish as I suspect it is, means we can do pumpkin-spice everything and make a killing.

As much fun as all this is, I'd really rather be doing pharmacology, and will see if I can get floated a loan to go through the UW Madison training program (I, along with 4 of every 5 other contenders, did not get in last time through the employment application process). But for a little while this may be fun, in a hardworking, busy, up at 5:30 AM every day kind of way.

New tape shows Trump campaign aides discussing possibility of N-word tape

The use of "dog" to describe Manigault Newman, who was the highest ranking African-American in Trump's White House during her tenure, did little to dampen the renewed allegations of racism against the President.

Some of his top aides rushed to defend him, claiming they'd never witnessed him use racist language in their interactions.

"I've been around @realDonaldTrump publicly & privately for 25yrs. I've NEVER ONCE - EVER - have heard him say the disgusting & terrible word that the Opportunistic Wacky Omarosa claims," wrote Dan Scavino, Trump's longtime social media director.

Breakthrough: Trump close to calling his critics "bitch-ni**as".